Common anesthetics used during surgeries may help combat viral and bacterial infections in the lung, including influenza and pneumonia, researchers including one of Indian-origin have found. In use for more than a century, inhaled anesthetics like nitrous oxide and halothane have made modern surgery possible.
Now, in animal experiments conducted in mice, researchers have found that certain so-called "volatile" anesthetics that are commonly used during surgeries, may also possess powerful effects on the immune system that can combat viral and bacterial infections in the lung, including influenza and pneumonia. Researchers built their experiments on previous work showing that children with upper viral respiratory tract infections who were exposed to the anesthetic halothane during minor surgical procedures had significantly less respiratory symptoms and a shorter duration of symptoms…
