Partially ionized medical oxygen as a supplementary treatment for COVID-19

Abstract

Letter to the editor Dear Editors, we read with interest the recent report by Rowen and Robins regarding the effective treatment for "novel coronavirus" SARS-CoV with ozone therapy [1]. The authors explained the effect of ozone therapy through oxidation of the membrane glycoproteins, where thiol groups in reduced form (R-S-H) are changed to disulphide (R-S-S-H). Then, viral enzymes can become inactive when reduced thiols are oxidized. Coronavirus structure has regions rich in cysteine, which are vulnerable to oxidation. The COVID-19 is real worldwide pandemic with significant morbidity and mortality, so there is an emergency to find many other treatment methods. We fully agree with the authors that in some conditions, in which there are limitations in conventional treatment, oxidation therapy could be useful; however, we would like to share our thoughts and contributions to this report. Another type of oxidation therapy is administration of partially ionized oxygen. Although it is not a frequently used method, its success was proven. Therapy with ionized oxygen (Ionized Oxygen Therapy-IO2Th/Engler) is a physical, adjuvant, short-term medical administration of partially ionized oxygen. This method was developed in 1980 by Assoc. Prof.

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“…The use of this method needs a special medical device and require hospitalization. Moreover, the effective time of oxygen inhalation for virus inactivation has not been estimated yet 78,79 . Clinical studies have proven that the use of O 2therapy by high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in patients with severe hypoxemic acute respiratory failure (hARF) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is a safe and effective treatment for less severe patients with SARS-CoV-2 hARF; however, the efficacy would need further assessment as part of a clinical trial 80,81 .…”

The five axes of COVID-19 treatment: attacking the disease from several angles.

“…According to recent studies, therapy with ionized oxygen might be a useful tool to treat COVID-19 patients as in vitro studies confirmed that long-term inhalation of partially positively ionized oxygen (O2+) was associated with less oxidative stress, better ability to secure airway patency and milder pulmonary inflammation response than molecular oxygen (133).…”