| Publication | Patients | Treatment | Antiviral | Symptomatology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eccles et al. (2010) A double-blind placebo-controlled trial [22] |
n = 35 Adults mean age 19.6 years | 0.12% iota-carrageenan nasal spray, 3 times a day for four days | Nasal lavage was analyzed by real-time RT-PCR for the presence of viral genomes. Viral load in the respiratory virus-positive patients increased by almost sixfold, whereas it decreased by 92% in the iota-carrageenan treatment group (p < 0.009). | Carrageenan treated group had a reduction in total symptom scores between days 2-4 of the trial (p=0.046) |
| Fazekas et al. (2012) Double-blind placebo-controlled trial [24] |
n = 153 children aged between 1-18 years, mean age 5 years | 0.12% iota-carrageenan nasal spray, 3 times a day for seven days | Topical application of the iota-carrageenan spray reduced viral loads in nasal secretions to a significantly higher degree than placebo after 3 to 5 days of treatment (p = 0.026 |
A non-significant reduction in total symptom scores between days 2-7 of trial |
| Ludwig et al. (2013) Double-blind placebo-controlled trial [27] |
n = 211 adults mean age 33 years | 0.12% iota-carrageenan nasal spray, 3 times a day for seven days | Viral titers in nasal fluids showed a significantly greater decrease in carrageenan treated patients in the intention-to-treat population (p = 0.024) and in the per-protocol population (p = 0.018) between days 1 and 3/4. | Significant reduction in total symptom scores in later days of cold (p=0.048) |
| Eccles et al. (2015) Double-blind placebo-controlled trial [25] |
n = 200 adults mean age 20 years | 0.12% iota-carrageenan nasal spray, 4 times a day for four days | Non-significant trend for a reduction in viral titres in the iota-carrageenan group compared to the placebo group. | Significant reduction in total symptom scores between days 2-4 of the trial (p = 0.0364) |