Rinser for mouth and medicine for gonorrhea
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Listerine, a remedy that is now used to rinse the mouth, was released as early as the end of the 19th century, when the developers assured that the drug effectively cures gonorrhea. At the time, this statement did not cause much interest in the scientific community, but the composition of the popular mouthwash today has not changed since 1895. It is worth recalling that today the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a big concern, and gonorrhea, which is no longer amenable to treatment with many existing drugs, is no exception.
At Monash University (Australia), an independent team of researchers decided to conduct an experiment and find out whether a mouth cavity really can help in the treatment of gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea is a fairly common disease that is transmitted mainly through sexual contact. Homosexuals are at risk. The disease is provoked by bacteria of the gonococcus. Symptoms of gonorrhea do not appear in 10% of cases in men, and 80% in women, but bacteria can provoke serious complications, including oncology (most often prostate cancer).
For their experiment, Australian scientists selected volunteers among homosexuals. This choice was made not by chance, since up to 70% of gonorrhea cases among men are diagnosed among the representatives of sexual minorities.
Scientists noted that if Listerin is able to suppress the growth of gonococci, then this drug can become today a simple, affordable and cheap way of treating and preventing gonorrhea.
Initially, the action of Listerin on bacteria was studied in laboratory vessels and the results of this experiment proved to be rather promising. Among the volunteers, who were about 200 people, 58 had gonococcal bacteria in the oral cavity. All those who had the bacteria detected were divided into 2 groups, in one the participants rinsed the oral cavity with a solution of salt for 5 minutes, in the second Listerin for 1 minute. After a while, the scientists made another analysis and found that in the first group the effectiveness of treatment was much higher (84%). In the group where participants rinsed the oral cavity with Listerine, the cure rate was just over 50%, but scientists are sure that this is a good result. In addition, experts are sure that when rinsing the mouth with saline solution, one way or another, the throat was affected, while when rinsing with Listerine, only the oral cavity was rinsed.
In any case, the results are just beginning and scientists still have a lot of work to do, in particular, they intend to develop an analog of Listerin, which would be suitable for use in more delicate areas. Nevertheless, Listerine showed good results and scientists recommend using it for oral cavity prevention.
According to some reports, the drug was invented as a surgical antiseptic, but after a while it was used as a remedy for gonorrhea and a means for washing the sexes.
Listerine, as a mouthwash, began to be used only in 1920.
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