Why you shouldn’t gargle Betadine to combat COVID-19, according to experts

Why you shouldn’t gargle Betadine to combat COVID-19, according to experts

In addition to the risks of swallowing Betadine, there are risks to inhaling it, says Andrew Noymer, M.D., an associate professor of population health and disease prevention and public health at the University of California Irvine. “I do worry, in particular, about people misting povidone-iodine into their nasal passages,” says Dr. Noymer. “The sinuses are close to the brain, and I worry about the migration of iodine into the central nervous system…please don’t go putting chemicals up into the nasal and sinus passages that don’t belong there.”