High-Frequency Ultrasound Waves Can Destroy Respiratory Viruses, Study Shows
A new study shows that high-frequency medical ultrasound waves can destroy respiratory viruses like coronavirus and influenza without damaging healthy tissue. Utilizing mechanical resonance, the sound waves dismantle the viral envelope, offering a promising physical approach to antiviral therapy.
Researchers have demonstrated in a new study that high-frequency ultrasound waves—sound waves oscillating at a very rapid pace that are inaudible to the human ear—can dismantle and destroy the structure of respiratory viruses such as coronavirus and influenza. By doing so, these waves neutralize the pathogens and prevent them from successfully infecting cells. This finding paves the way for the future use of ultrasound, a method familiar from routine medical imaging, as the basis for an innovative antiviral therapy.
The primary advantage of such a treatment is that it relies neither on toxic substances, which could potentially harm bodily cells, nor on biological drugs manufactured from proteins or living cells. Instead, it constitutes a physical treatment that can significantly reduce the side effects typically associated with disease management. Viruses present an immense challenge to public health, partly because their genetic material mutates rapidly. This high mutation rate allows them to transform swiftly into new variants, thereby developing drug resistance and evading vaccines.
Alongside biological solutions like vaccines or medications, scientists are exploring physical interventions against viruses. Established physical methods for virus destruction, such as ultraviolet radiation or low-frequency ultrasound, are currently used primarily for surface disinfection in laboratories. This is because they are harmful not only to viruses—ultraviolet radiation damages the skin and can cause cancer, while low-frequency ultrasound operates via cavitation, a process generating microscopic bubbles within liquid that collapse violently.
The collapse of these bubbles produces heat, environmental damage, and destructive chemical particles known as free radicals, making the process unsafe for use within living cells and tissues. To investigate a safer alternative, researchers tested whether routine medical ultrasound, operating at frequencies between 3 and 20 MHz—meaning 3 to 20 million oscillations per second—could target viruses without generating those destructive bubbles.
In the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers exposed solutions containing floating viruses to ultrasound waves using standard medical equipment found in hospitals and clinics. They examined influenza viruses as well as several strains of the coronavirus, ranging from the original variant to strains such as Gamma and Delta. Subsequently, they evaluated the state of the viruses using high-powered microscopes capable of observing particles on the nanometer scale—billionths of a meter. Additionally, they tested the ability of the viruses to infect cells in laboratory cultures.
The results clearly showed that ultrasound waves severely compromised the structural integrity of the viruses. Exposure to the sound waves caused the viral envelope, the protective outer layer, to collapse, deform, and disintegrate. This phenomenon was documented microscopically and dubbed the "popcorn effect." As a result of this physical destruction, the ability of coronaviruses to infect cells plummeted dramatically, and the overall viral load measured in the cells decreased significantly.
The central discovery of the study concerns the mechanism of action of the sound waves: the researchers proved that the destruction was not caused by heating the liquid or altering its pH level. Rather, the sound waves damaged the viruses solely through mechanical resonance. Much like an opera singer capable of shattering a glass cup by singing at its characteristic frequency, the ultrasound frequencies generated a cyclical vibration that progressively intensified within the viral envelope until it simply collapsed, without affecting the host organism's cells at all.
These findings could carry far-reaching clinical implications, particularly against future viral outbreaks. The researchers discovered that while ultrasound waves affected all tested coronavirus strains, different variants exhibited slightly varied resistance compared to the original strain. This indicates that subtle structural changes in the virus might require specific tuning of the sound frequencies. Nevertheless, because the method relies on the engineering structure of the virus rather than its rapidly mutating genetic composition and proteins, it provides an approach that may remain effective against emerging variants.
Another potential advantage of the method is the future possibility of combining ultrasound therapy with pharmacological treatments to weaken the virus and ease the immune system's task of eliminating it. However, all experiments conducted thus far have taken place in laboratory settings outside of living organisms. To translate this discovery into a viable treatment applicable to humans, subsequent animal studies are required to demonstrate that ultrasound can be used safely and effectively to treat viruses within body tissues.
