Gargling solution flies off Japan's shelves after governor touts anti-virus effect
05/08/2020 07:33
TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japanese drugstores were stripped
bare of gargling solution by Wednesday, a day after the governor
of the western prefecture of Osaka suggested it could help fight
coronavirus, triggering panicked buying reminiscent of the early
days of mask shortages.
Hundreds of thousands of people posted pictures of emptied
shelves on Twitter, accompanied by handwritten "Out of Stock"
notices, as they canvassed suggestions on how to acquire the
coveted antiseptic.
"Anyone else having trouble buying gargling medicine? I'm
coming to four misses now," wrote one user, @shotaro_1117, who
posted images of four cleaned-out shelves.
On Tuesday, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said a study
showed a smaller viral load in the saliva of 41 patients with
mild symptoms after regular gargling with a medicine infused
with povidone-iodine solution than in those who had not.
"Perhaps we can even overcome the coronavirus with gargling
medicine," he told a mid-afternoon news conference, speaking of
the study on those convalescing in regional hotels which was
released by an Osaka hospital.
As the Japanese official spoke, shares of Meiji Holdings Co
2269.T , which sells a popular medicine previously marketed as
Isojin, skyrocketed, gaining as much as 7.7% by late on Tuesday.
The shares were down 4% on Wednesday, but more than 1.2
million tweets had employed the hashtag #Isojin by afternoon.
As governments worldwide have struggled to rein in the
virus, which has killed nearly 700,000 people and infected more
than 18 million, some in authority have seized on any treatment
seeming to offer a glimmer of hope.
For example, U.S. President Donald Trump has persistently
promoted the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as successful in
treating the virus, and in April, he asked publicly if injecting
disinfectant might help.
Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said he
was aware of the Osaka governor's comments, including the fact
that researchers would try to determine if the ingredient could
keep disease symptoms from worsening.
"The government will closely watch developments of the
research," Suga told a news conference.
Some experts were sceptical, however.
"I think these kinds of claims might even lead to a high
number of false negatives for PCR tests," pharmacist and medical
writer Shuichi Aoshima wrote on Twitter, adding that tests after
use of the germicide would register lower levels of the virus.
"It's the same as dripping povidone-iodine onto a virus
sample."
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Additional reporting by
Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
((Sakura.Murakami@thomsonreuters.com))