Ozone Gas Through Nebulisation with Olive Oil as Adjuvant Treatment for Covid-19 Lung Disease

Background

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, can progress from an upper-respiratory infection to viral pneumonia, in which the lungs become inflamed and the transfer of oxygen into the blood is impaired. During the pandemic, clinicians looked for supportive measures that might reduce the amount of virus in the airways and help patients respond more quickly to standard care. Medical ozone has been studied for its oxidative and antimicrobial properties, and this trial set out to test whether ozone gas delivered by nebulisation - bubbled through distilled water and olive oil so that it could be inhaled - might assist recovery when added to usual hospital treatment.

Study design

The researchers ran a prospective randomised trial in 30 hospitalised patients with confirmed COVID-19. Participants were divided into two groups of 15. One group received standard COVID-19 treatment together with the nebulised ozone technique, while the control group received standard treatment alone. Ozone was applied by passing the gas through distilled water and olive oil to produce an inhalable vapour directed at the lower airways. The team tracked several markers over the course of admission, including length of hospital stay, conversion to a negative PCR test, levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP), and severity scores on chest computed tomography (CT).

Findings

Patients in the ozone group tended to have shorter hospital stays than those receiving standard care alone. A larger proportion of the ozone group returned a negative PCR result during the observation period - reported as roughly 93 per cent, compared with about 20 per cent of the control group - and the fall in CRP was greater in the ozone group. Chest CT severity scores were also lower among the patients who received nebulised ozone. Taken together, the reported measures pointed towards a faster response to treatment in the group that received the ozone technique in addition to standard care.

What the authors concluded

The authors concluded that lung disinfection using nebulised ozone, applied alongside conventional therapy, may reduce the rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients and help them respond to treatment and clear the virus more quickly. They presented the approach strictly as an adjuvant - an addition to standard medical care - rather than as a stand-alone treatment for the disease.

Limitations of this study

This was a small trial: 30 patients in total, with 15 in each group, which limits how confidently the results can be generalised. The report gives limited detail on blinding and on how outcomes such as CT severity were assessed, and a study of this size cannot rule out chance or confounding factors. The findings have not yet been confirmed in larger, multi-centre trials. Ozone was tested here only as a complementary, adjuvant measure added to conventional COVID-19 care; it is not a cure for COVID-19 and is not a substitute for standard medical treatment or vaccination. Anyone considering ozone therapy should do so in discussion with their healthcare team.