Essential oils are always in debate between two groups of people. Some believes it is having magical properties that science is able not discover yet, while other believes it is a totally crap. Essence can be defined as aromatic elements of plant or in another term it can be defined as whatever important (essential) in the plant.
They are generally extracted using distillation methods where parts of the plant are processed using steam or solvents. There are also many other methods applied in various oils according to their requirements.
Recently people have discovered a new approach to fight with COVID-19 virus. Some study conducted and suggested that cinnamon, bergamot, thyme, and lemongrass oils were able to kill virus or stop their growth in the lab. That has given a new hope to fight with corona virus with new weapons. The existing weapons like alcohol, soap, ozone gas, bleach and other disinfectants are having their own issue. Long term use of traditional disinfectants can cause skin burn and many other pollution problems.
When World Health Organization (WHO) declared pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus, they suggested people to wash hands, use masks and clean their workplaces. They also suggested making social distance to slowdown the spread of virus.
WHO has not evaluated short term or long term effects of Essential oils, and not suggested to use it. Till now there is no full proof cure and any vaccine to prevent corona virus. So we can’t use it as a corona virus treatment. We can only use it for precaution and with caution.
On 12 August 2020, World wide around 20 millions people are confirmed with Corona virus infection. We can say these numbers will grow soon and we can’t save whole population with any medicine. Even we don’t have any proven treatment or vaccine. So Every research and a new way to fight it should be anticipated.
There are two properties like virus inhibitors and virus destroyer found in various essential oils. There are many research have done and many in pipe line. But one thing is sure, all essential oils are not same. They behave differently on virus and bacteria. For example tea tree oil can inhibit the influenza viruses but not able to work on polio virus and echovirus 9.
Here are shown various ways to prevent covid-19 infections.
There are only 37 licensed antiviral medicines are available in the market. However they are not significant and they can’t protect against the damage done by virus. In various stages of infection it can crash respiratory and other important functions of body. They are also having lots of side effects associated with each medicine. Most of the medicines are inspired by nature chemistry or medicinal plants. For example the Tamiflu a antiviral drug is having active ingredient derived by star anise (Chinese spice) It is very popular medicine for treatment of influenza A and influenza B.
In many countries traditional immunity medicine works well and cured thousands of people with it. However there are no clinical study or reputed sources about figures exists. Many foods and herbs are known as antiviral and said to improve immunity. Aloe vera, Angelica gigas, ginseng and many other herbs may able to kill virus by increasing killer cells in body. Eucalyptus essential oil is also know to improve immune response and helps to fights infections. More over extracts from ginger, garlic, eucalyptus, tea tree, fish mint, Korean red ginseng and cape jasmine also shown antiviral activities against flu virus.
Eucalyptus essential oil is used for cold treatment since many years and even OTC product Vicks VapoRub is also having Eucalyptus oil and camphor. Though there are not enough data and scientific study conducted so, WHO or FDA can’t approve them as medicines.
So, Here are some best oils that can be used
- Eucalyptus oil
- Lemongrass oil
- Cinnamon Oil
- Bergamot Oil
One thing is sure, that we can use them as preventive measure. You can clean your surrounding environment by essential oil spray or vaporizer. It can provide relax feel and reduce the stress of COVID-19. It can help with minor symptoms and psychological wellbeing. Steam inhale with Eucalyptus, lemongrass or Rosemary oils can reduce stress and anxiety with minor symptoms. In severe cased or with shortness of breath one should only seek medical help as soon as possible. There are no clinical evidence or we don’t claim therapeutic uses of essential oils in this blog.