Prevention proposal
The viruses in question are ubiquitous and with normal life and
relationship, even if only by speaking (direct exchange of contaminated
Függe droplets) or by saying goodbye with a handshake, various viral
types are acquired by contamination in the upper respiratory tract.
The nose, mouth and face are repeatedly touched with the hands (it is
documented, that on average everyone brings the hands to mouth and nose
more than 23 times a day), thus favouring the passage of any microbial
contaminants from the hands to the upper respiratory tract.
If the environmental conditions of the upper respiratory tract are
favourable, due to the relatively low temperature, compared to other
body areas, these viruses take root and multiply, up to quantities such
as to induce an acute phlogistic response.
Avoiding contamination would be effective as primary prevention, but it
is not substantially applied as a daily practice or simply impossible.
However, one could intervene on the contaminating viruses, to reduce
their multiplication and engraftment to the nasal, paranasal and upper
respiratory tract mucous membrane and thus avoiding the evolution from
contamination to infection.
Considering that, as indicated, the main viruses implicated in colds,
prefer low temperatures and lose virulence at higher temperatures and
considering that, the different parts of the upper respiratory tract
(nose, paranasal sinuses, oral cavity) have average temperatures lower
than two to three degrees, compared to the core body temperature, the
operative proposal therefore consists in warming the upper respiratory
tract several times a day, to reduce the viral contaminating share of
“cryophilic” viruses, thus reducing or preventing their
multiplication. Therefore the evolution from contamination to infection
would be interrupted.
This can be simply achieved by heating the nose, jaws, ear cavities and
throat by means of a flow of hot air, produced, for example, by a simple
hairdryer with at least 600 watts of power.
To generate a flow of hot air with the indicated characteristics, a normal hairdryer can be used.
The hot air jet is produced by an electric motor that rotates a fan. This fan absorbs and moves air, directing it to an electric heating resistor. The resistor is made up of a twisted nickel-chromium wire wound on a heat-resistant support, in which the jet of air is heated and then blown out. A heating resistence with a power consumption of 600W is sufficient. The motor can be a permanent magnet DC motor or a single-phase AC motor. The air flow rate generated by the fan is normally around 40-50 m³/h. The heating element is protected by a thermostat and the outlet air temperature is around 70-80°C.
The 70-80°C hot air-flow produced by hair dryers easily allows increasing the temperature of the affected areas to over 40°C.