Sunlight, Coronavirus, and the Endothelium
Can nitric oxide and carbon monoxide production exert protective effects in the setting of COVID-19 infection?
During the early months of the pandemic, spurious claims about sunlight’s ability to kill the novel coronavirus abounded. Many advocated for the use of sunlight as a disinfectant while the President of the United States waxed on about a hypothetical therapy that “brought the light inside the body.”
Unfortunately, Dr. Mark Pimental and his team at Cedars-Sinai Hospital seemed all too eager to profit from these unsubstantiated claims by repurposing their “Healight” device, a UVA light-emitting catheter. Hospitals do indeed use ultraviolet light to sterilize surfaces, but this form of UV light is dangerous to humans.
Sunlight that reaches the Earth consists of two types of UV radiation: UVA and UVB rays. Neither is considered intense enough to kill SARS-CoV-2. A third type, UVC, is used in the healthcare industry to kill microbes that may survive treatment with chemical disinfectants. This form of ultraviolet light can cause sunburn within seconds.
If sunlight cannot directly kill the coronavirus, can sunlight exposure at least indirectly reduce the risk of severe disease?
