COVID-19 MCIR treatment option accepted for peer review | News

WESTERN BUREAU:

With the work done by his multinational research team being accepted for publication by an internationally recognised medical journal, Journal of Dentistry and Oral Sciences, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Science at The University of the West Indies, Dr Christopher Ogunsalu, is once again touting the research team’s Menthol Crystal Inhalation Regimen (MCIR) as the ideal weapon to fight the coronavirus, especially during the incubation period.

The research, which was done through clinical trials conducted over a one-year period and had a 100 per cent success rate, entails the inhalation of the menthol vapour through a pump for five minutes every eight hours for three days, by early diagnosed COVID-19 cases.

“The mechanism of action of the menthol crystal vapour has been proposed based on evidence from our clinical trial. Based on these proposed mechanisms of action, it stands to reason that at this time of the pandemic, which is faced with a global struggle to identify the definitive preventive and curative pharmacological agent for both the cure and prevention of COVID-19, the MCIR and mentholated environment/devices must be given an opportunity to prove itself in the cure and management of the disease, especially as the Delta variant has emerged and continues to spread globally,” Ogunsalu told The Gleaner.

Interestingly, with the new Omicron variant now in more than 60 countries around the world, and concerns being raised about the capacity of the various vaccines to handle this strain, Ogunsalu is confident that MCIR has the capacity to blunt whatever strain comes to the fore.

“The periodic inhalation of menthol crystal utilising the MCIR has been found to be therapeutic for COVID-19 patients. The hallmark of this original work is that the menthol vapour is capable of incapacitating the COVID-19 virus, its emerging variants and most other viruses that will eventually emerge in the future,” said Ogunsalu, whose research team consists of medical doctors and dental professionals from the United States and Cameroon, including Ogunsalu; Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay; Dr Dagogo Pepple, senior lecturer in physiology at the UWI; Professor Everald Barton, professor of medicine and nephrology at the UWI; Daniel Ogunsalua, a student at UWI; Dr Olalekan Fagbola, principal medical and health officer of Princes Town Regional Corporation in Trinidad and Tobago; Professor Ken Judy, the United States-based co-chairman and CEO of the International Congress of Oral Implantolgists, the world’s largest provider of continuing dental implant education; and Mike Agbor, a renowned medical professional from the Cameroons.

“We suggest that the menthol crystal at its active site inactivates the virus in a manner which is not currently fully understood. This instantaneous inactivation has been confirmed by another study which increased the dose of inhaled menthol vapour by increasing the duration of use to 10 minutes every eight hours, resulting in the eradication of symptoms and the virus in just about two days,” added Ogunsalu.

According to Ogunsalu, who is obviously buoyed by the acceptance of the research for peer review, said based on their research, they can now presume the following: (1) That the menthol crystal vapour coats the virus and incapacitates its further pathologic activities. (2) That the menthol crystal vapour coats the unoccupied receptor sites of the nasal mucosa/epithelium, thus preventing the occupation by the replicating virus. (3) The menthol crystal vapour coating on both the virus and the epithelium altogether offer greater resistance to further penetration of the virus, thus causing a total cessation of the incipient deeper invasion.

In giving an overview of the clinical trial done by his research team, Ogunsalu said it went extremely well without any glitches, which has given him the confidence he has in the effectiveness of the MCIR.

“All our patients got well with the entire symptoms disappearing by the third day in addition to the status of the patient returning to negative from COVID-19 positive status,” said Ogunsalu. “Interestingly, this regimen almost immediately begins to improve the Hypoxia (low oxygen) that was associated with the clinical presentation of the entire patient. It is not a coincidence that our success rate was 100 per cent in our clinical trial. Based on this outcome, more patients are able to treat themselves at home with menthol crystal vapour,” said Ogunsalu.