3mo ago

An antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

penntoday.upenn.edu

An antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission | Penn Today

25 comments

Hmm… microplastics or flu and herpes… school didn’t prepare me for these decisions.
- If you're old enough to have this thought, you're already screwed by the microplastics.
  
  adds extra Teflon to his scrambled eggs
- Don’t worry, 90% of the population has herpes by the time they are 50. The vast majority do not know they have it.
  Edit: If you'd like to learn more, I found this doctor's youtube channel incredibly helpful: https://www.youtube.com/@DrBretPalmer
  
  And god only knows what it’s doing to everyone. There’s at least one hypothesis it causes Alzheimer’s. You’d think we’d be hearing about a vaccine by now like we do for HPV.
  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181022-there-is-mounting-evidence-that-herpes-leads-to-alzheimers
- plastic-free chewing gums do exist.
  
  Both natural and synthetic chewing gum shed plastics as you chew: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2025/march/chewing-gum-can-shed-microplastics-into-saliva-pilot-study-finds.html
a chewing gum made from lablab beans, Lablab purpureus—that naturally contain an antiviral trap protein (FRIL)—to neutralize two herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and two influenza A strains (H1N1 and H3N2). The chewing gum formulation allowed for effective and consistent release of FRIL at sites of viral infection.
They demonstrated that 40 milligrams of a two-gram bean gum tablet was adequate to reduce viral loads by more than 95%, a reduction similar to what they saw in their SARS-CoV-2 study.
Why has nobody mentioned the huge canine teeth in that photo.
Chewing gum for dogs?
- Surprised it went with that thumbnail.
- That does look like dog teeth actually!
- Yeah, what if I don't eat dogs?
Protex: the fresh maker
Wouldn't this make the virus resistant against this kind of antiviral compound?
I think it's a good idea if it works. I have a lot of herpes outbreaks and I hate that shit
Ew, microplastics.

25 comments