A study suggests that ultrasound scans, the machines used to monitor the growth of a fetus inside a mother's womb, can destroy coronavirus cells by forcing the virus's surface to tear apart and implode.
Mail Online reports researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a mathematical assessment based on the generic coronavirus cells' physical properties. Related information is shown on MIT's YouTube video below.
As a result, the assessment revealed that medical ultrasounds might impair the shell and spikes of the virus, resulting in its collapse and rupture.
Ultrasounds are already being used to treat kidney stones but the research team is calling for further study on its potential for COVID-19 treatment.
Computer simulations developed a model of a universal coronavirus, the family includes COVID-19, HIV and flu.
Out of these simulations, the study investigators discovered that between 26 and 100 MHz, the coronavirus splits apart and fails in less than below one millisecond.
Virus's Collapse
As indicated in the study, at 100MHz, the computer model showed the virus collapsing as it resonates with the natural vibration frequency of the membrane.
This is a phenomenon that takes place when a particular wave frequency is aligning with a material's inherent properties, continuously intensifying the vibrations.
The coincidence of physics is similar to the mechanism which enables opera singers to crash wine glasses and is a problem too, for bridge-building. If the wind or footsteps' frequency aligns with the bridge's natural properties, experts said, it wobbles out of control.
This is exactly what took place in 2000 when London's Millennium Bridge opened and people's footsteps caused it to sway considerably.
It occurred at two MHz, although for COVID-19, the 100MHz waves were found to cause resonation. Within a portion of a second, the model virus's surface distorted and malformed. At 25 and 50MHz, the same process was accelerated even further.
Potential for COVID-19 Treatment
According to MIT applied mechanics professor Tomasz Wierzbicki, who's also the study's lead author, these frequencies, as well as the intensities, are "within the range safely used for medical imaging."
The study authors said, the results are based on variable data of physical properties of the virus and need to be interpreted with carefulness.
Nonetheless, it opens up the probability that coronavirus infections, which include COVID-19, could be treated by ultrasounds one day.
Issues Surrounding the Viability of Such a Therapeutic Approach
Numerous issues are surrounding the viability of such a therapeutic approach. One of these problems is the manner such an approach, which is typically applied to a particular area of the body to conduct a scan. It would target the body of a person as it can transmit to a huge number of tissues, including the nose, brain, and lungs.
However, the MIT engineers say their study is a pioneer ever finding within an innovative avenue of research and there are more studies needed to confirm its long-term feasibility as a treatment.
Wierzbicki explained, they have proven that under ultrasound excitation, the coronavirus shell and spike will vibrate, and at vibration's amplitude will be very hugely, generating strains that could breakdown certain parts of the virus, doing visible impairment to the outer shell, and possibly, the unseen damage to the RNA inside.
The hope is that the paper will initiate a discussion across different disciplines. Full findings of the study are published in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (Effect of receptors on the resonant and transient harmonic vibrations of Coronavirus).
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