Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DOwe9yfDnI2/Azelastine nasal spray, marketed as Astepro but also available as a generic, can reduce your chances of developing a CoVid infection by a factor of 3 and cut your chances of developing a common cold by a factor of 3.5.  German researchers at Saarland University recently published their double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 450 participants in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal.Half the subjects received azelastine 0.1% nasal spray three times a day for 56 days. The control subjects used  a similarly-appearing but inactive nasal spray.  Respiratory infections were confirmed using PCR analyses.  The results showed that only 2.2% of the azelestine sprayers developed CoVid compared with 6.7% of controls.  Only 1.8% of azelestine sprayers developed rhinovirus infections compared with 6.3% of controls.Generic azelastine spray is a prescription medication.  Astepro Spray, the same medication, is available over-the-counter.  If you think you might benefit, give it