key: cord-0877344-29l6w4yn
authors: Donnelly, Seamas C
title: COVID-19—the risk of secondary transmission among households quantified
date: 2021-01-03
journal: QJM
DOI: 10.1093/qjmed/hcaa308
sha: 62b7a3848e6ce23723e2f35d3430064cd9772a1e
doc_id: 877344
cord_uid: 29l6w4yn

nan

A key strategic role of the QJM is to highlight potential novel therapeutic pathways for human diseases. In the context of novel anti-inflammatory pathways specifically targeting the lung, the journal has recently published novel observations on this subject. [1] [2] [3] [4] We continue this tradition with the publication by Dr Wand and colleagues from Peking Union Medical College in which they describe the anti-inflammatory effects of inhaled hydrogen in patients with chronic respiratory diseases, specifically asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Hydrogen has been known to possess potent anti-oxidant properties and in vivo animal models of asthma has shown it to have the capacity to alleviate airway hyper-responsiveness. The authors report their observed anti-inflammatory effect of inhaled hydrogen in asthmatic and COPD patients. They used low inhaled concentrations of hydrogen (2.4%) and analyzed pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in exhaled breath condensate before and after 45 min of inhaled hydrogen with a significant observed post-treatment effect. In the current pandemic, one wonders would a similar anti-inflammatory effect be observed in COVID-19 patients?

Conflict of interest. None declared.

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