RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A study released this month, published on social network site ResearchGate, shows that the sun can be a great ally in the fight against influenza A virus. According to the scientists behind the study, exposure to the noon sun’s rays can deactivate the virus that causes the disease in up to 34 minutes.
The research, led by Jose-Luis Sagripanti and David Lytle, supposedly published in an unnamed scientific journal, but without peer review, showed that bright sunlight is extremely effective against the influenza virus and can disable up to 90 percent of viral load.
On the other hand, they pointed out that winter can be the most contagious stage of the virus, since it can survive for up to a day in lower temperatures, increasing the risks of transmission.
The scientists also pointed out that the social isolation measures, which kept people indoors in several countries, may have caused more harm than benefits in fighting the pandemic.
“Healthy people who were exposed to sunlight would get a lower viral load, which would be more efficient to create an immunization response in the population,” points out an excerpt from the study.
This study confirms another conducted in the past on the Spanish Flu. In 1918 and 1919, researchers pointed out that patients treated in open hospitals and exposed to the sun had greater chances of survival and recovery.