Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution... – Containing or obtained from citrus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-12
2001-10-02
Lilling, Herbert J. (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution...
Containing or obtained from citrus
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296882
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally directed toward a topical disinfectant and more specifically is directed toward a non-toxic mucosal disinfectant effective against various pathogenic organisms which cause infectious processes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death and morbidity. Even the domestication of animals has resulted in a number of illnesses (Diphtheria came from the water buffalo; mycobacteria from ungulates; measles from canine distemper, etc.).
The aerosolization of water in western society, ranging from the widespread use of showers instead of baths to the spraying of products in supermarkets, to air conditioning, has probably played a significant role in the emergence of Legionnaire's disease and mycobacterium avium infection in both normal and immunocompromised hosts. Legionella pneumophila, is an infectious agent of predatory protozoans found widely in nature.
Some microorganisms are pathogens (a microorganism capable of causing disease) but most microorganisms that are seen in the human body are innocuous. For example, more than 600 species of bacteria inhabit the large bowel of a human. Not only are the majority of human microorganisms innocuous but they play useful, if unseen roles. These microorganisms provide a necessary part of the development pathways required for the maturation of human intestinal mucosa and our innate local immune system protects us against harmful microorganisms and helps the digestion of food.
Most of human microbes are commensal. Commensal or transient microbes can be an opportunistic pathogen of humans; namely, they can cause disease if one or more defense mechanisms are breached by accident, medical intent, or an underlying metabolic or even infectious disorder.
Human beings are exposed to nosocomial as well as nosohusial infections. Many microorganisms are adapted exclusively to humans and other animals and many pathogenic microorganisms have learned to circumvent, exploit, subvert or avoid our normal cellular mechanisms to multiply at human expense. Some microbes have made the transition from harmless commensal to potentially fatal infectious agents.
Increases in the world population, rapid travel between distant regions, high concentration of individuals in small areas, the wide spread use of air conditioning and heating equipment without air exchange, the large number of people traveling in confined areas (i.e., aircraft, trains, buses, and automobiles), have resulted in the increase in the number of pathogenic organisms and the increase of mutations of organisms. Thus, there is a need for effective protective measures to decrease the number and severity of respiratory infections.
Some societies use face masks as a protection against respiratory infections. However, the use of face masks are an impractical, inefficient and largely ineffective way to prevent dissemination of infection.
There are a number of highly contagious respiratory infections which result in fatal illness, such as African Ebola viruses. Some people have a decreased or defective immunological response to such infections. People who reside in high density cities are at risk for a large variety of respiratory illnesses. Many of the respiratory illnesses do not become confined to the respiratory tract (upper and/or lower) and can disseminate to other organs or become systematic infections.
It is estimated that over 66 million colds occur annually in the United States. An American catches an average of two to four colds a year. As few as ten cold viruses may be enough to cause infection. When symptoms first become noticeable there are thousands of viruses in the lung. The droplets of a sneeze travel as fast as 150 feet a second and as far as 12 feet.
It is highly desirable to protect the nasal mucosa from pathogenic organisms. In those individuals with active respiratory infection, it is also desirable to decrease the likelihood of dissemination of infection by decreasing the number and/or virulence of the pathogenic organisms expelled during exhaling, sneezing, and/or coughing through the use of a topically applied nasal disinfectant and to also reduce or eliminate disease transmissions through the fingers and hand of an infected person.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Respiratory infections are the result of the exposure to pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The immunological response to infections consists of the neutralization and destruction of the invader by immunoglobulins circulating in the liquid part of the blood (plasma) and phagocytosis from neutrophils, monocytes, and tissue macrophages. When the infection exceeds the effectiveness of the defense mechanism, illness will result.
Good health, and particularly a strong immunological system, is protective against infections. However, at this time, we cannot avoid the effects of the inhalation of pathogens, particularly when subjects are in a closed environment (buildings, airplanes, buses, trains, etc.) or are in physical proximity to individuals who have active respiratory infections and are sneezing, coughing, and expelling microdroplets with a high concentration of pathogens.
Prophylaxi is better than treatment and it appears to be quite limited for the prevention of upper and lower respiratory tract infections. Avoidance of environments with a high concentration of airborne pathogenic material is not always possible. However, the application of a topical antiseptic solution to the nose and avoidance of introducing pathogenic material into the nose by fingers that may be contaminated, appear to be a valid, simple, inexpensive practical method of helping human beings to prevent upper respiratory infection.
When considering the application of a disinfectant to a human subject, it must be recognized that the human capacity for smell is highly developed and easily desensitized which limits the use of a number of disinfectants. Humans have roughly 1000 receptors capable of recognizing some 10,000 distinct odors and over five million smell-sensing cells having neurons with eight or more stringy cilia. Olfactory neurons undergo constant renewals with an average replacement every one to two months. Olfactor receptor cells have bipolar neurons that are located in the olfactory epithelium under the dorsal aspect of the nasal cavity, the septum and part of the superior turbinates in the nose. Turbinates in the nose create airflow patterns that allow volatile compounds to reach the olfactory cells. Olfactory receptors bind odorants and belong to the 2-G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily associated with the adenyl cyclase and phosophoisoniositol signaling. Coding for odor quality and identification may involve the specific temporal sequences of firing that is compound specific. Axons of olfactory bipolar cells traverse through the small holes in the cribiform plate of the ethmoidal bone to the olfactory bulb where they form synapses in intricate masses called glomeruli. There is, thus, a neuroanatomical overlap which provides an anatomical basis for the capacity of odor to produce hedonic responses. Olfactory information is ultimately transmitted to the hypothalamus and this anatomical structure emphasizes the importance of olfaction in eating and nutrition. Thus, it is extremely important when treating disease that these sensor functions are not desensitized or overpowered by the chemical compound being used to treat the infection.
Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol, isopropanol) is used as a 70% mixture with water for rubdowns because it cools the skin by evaporation and causes pores to close. Isopropyl alcohol has been used for preparing needles and syringes for hypodermic injection. Isopropyl alcohol does not contain ethyl or grain alcohol. It is also used as a solvent for medicine, as a sterilant for instruments and as a skin cleanser before drawing blood or giving injections. Isopropyl alcohol has been shown to be an excellent antiseptic product. It appears to be lethal to bacterial, fungi and viruses, including the AIDS virus.
Gipple & Hale
Hale John S.
Lilling Herbert J.
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