Zinc Iodide + DMSO for Viral Infections: Real Science or Speculation?
I caught a nasty cold in Spain. Then I started experimenting. Here’s what the research actually says.
There’s a particular kind of boredom that only exists when you’re sick in bed—congested, miserable, and suddenly very motivated to do something about it. My trip to Spain was perfect until the tail end, when a cold hit me like a wall. Instead of reflecting on the scenery during my flight home, I was focused on my mounting congestion. Once I landed, I did what I always do: I started reading.
I’ve already written about DMSO in the context of wound healing, cancer, and hair loss. This time, I was curious whether it had anything to offer against a plain old viral infection. A few drops of 99% DMSO on the top of my head later, my HRV had doubled and I was sleeping deeply despite being congested enough to hear myself breathe. Anecdote, sure. But it sent me straight to the literature.
One paper in particular caught my eye: a 2020 hypothesis paper out of USC’s Keck School of Medicine proposing a DMSO-zinc iodide combination as a treatment for viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. The science behind it is worth understanding—not because it’s a proven cure, but because the biological reasoning is genuinely interesting.
“Zinc ionophores block the replication of coronaviruses in cell culture, and DMSO has shown efficacy in reversing the dysregulated immune-inflammatory responses associated with viral sepsis.”
What’s the Big Idea?
The paper, published in Medical Hypotheses, comes from researchers at USC and proposes combining zinc iodide (ZnI₂) with DMSO as a broad-spectrum antiviral treatment. The core argument is layered: zinc, iodine, and DMSO each bring something distinct to the fight against viral infection, and together they might hit multiple targets at once.
Zinc is the anchor. RNA viruses—including coronaviruses, rhinoviruses, and influenza—rely on an enzyme called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) to replicate. Zinc ions interfere directly with that process. A well-cited 2010 study showed that elevated zinc levels could inhibit coronavirus RdRp activity during RNA synthesis without causing detectable cytotoxicity. The catch: zinc has trouble getting into cells on its own. That’s where ionophores (compounds that shuttle zinc across cell membranes) come in—and the paper suggests DMSO serves a related transport function.
Iodine adds a different layer. It’s a potent broad-spectrum antiseptic that bacteria can’t easily develop resistance to, and one study showed that oral potassium iodide increased iodide concentrations in upper airway secretions, where it activated an antiviral defense system and showed activity against adenovirus and RSV. Iodine deficiency, the authors note, is surprisingly common—chlorine in tap water, fluoride in toothpaste, and various dietary compounds all suppress iodine metabolism.
Then there’s DMSO. Beyond its well-known role as a carrier that can penetrate biological membranes and drag compounds along with it, DMSO has its own antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. It suppresses NF-κB—the master switch for inflammatory signaling—and has shown efficacy in reversing the kind of immune dysregulation that turns a manageable infection into sepsis. A few of the paper’s own authors have published separately on DMSO’s role in cancer pain management, including via IV infusion.
Put together, the hypothesis is that ZnI₂ delivers both zinc and iodine in a single molecule, and DMSO acts as the carrier that gets the whole package where it needs to go.
This is where my bedside experiment starts to feel at least somewhat less random. I wasn’t consciously targeting any of these pathways, but the sleep quality and HRV response did make me wonder whether the anti-inflammatory angle was doing something real. I’ll keep testing.
💡 In Plain English
Think of a viral infection as a factory fire: you need someone to cut the power to the machines and someone to pull the fire alarm before the sprinklers flood everything. Zinc shuts down the virus’s replication machinery directly, iodine activates airway defenses at the source, and DMSO acts like a master key—carrying the whole package through cell membranes while simultaneously dampening the immune overreaction that causes the worst damage. The counter-intuitive part is that DMSO isn’t just the delivery truck here; it’s also one of the firefighters.
Why It Matters and What You Can Do
Zinc supplementation alone has a decent track record. Clinical trials show it can reduce acute respiratory infections by up to 45% and shorten cold duration. If you’re not already maintaining adequate zinc levels, that’s low-hanging fruit.
Iodine is worth thinking about. Given how many everyday products deplete it, many people are quietly deficient without knowing it. That affects immune function in ways that don’t get enough attention.
DMSO as a carrier is underexplored in the antiviral context. Most research has focused on its use with cancer drugs or as a cryoprotectant. Its direct immunomodulatory effects against viral infection deserve more attention.
The ZnI₂ + DMSO combination hasn’t been clinically tested. This is a hypothesis paper. It synthesizes existing research to make a plausible case, but there are no human trials on this specific combination yet. Treat it like an interesting lead, not a protocol.
If you’re experimenting with DMSO topically, the quality and purity of what you’re using matters enormously. Pharmaceutical-grade or 99% lab-grade only. It carries whatever is on your skin straight through—that’s a feature and a risk.
What’s Next on the Horizon?
The paper calls explicitly for clinical trials to validate this combination and develop dosing protocols. That work hasn’t happened publicly yet, as far as I can tell. But the underlying mechanisms—zinc’s RdRp inhibition, iodine’s airway defense activation, DMSO’s anti-inflammatory and carrier effects—are each grounded in real prior research.
What’s genuinely interesting is the broader direction this points to: moving beyond single-target antivirals toward combinations that address viral replication and the inflammatory damage that follows. COVID-19 showed us how often it’s the immune overreaction, not the virus itself, that kills people. A compound that hits both problems simultaneously is worth taking seriously.
If this hypothesis ever gets properly funded and tested, the results could inform how we approach not just COVID variants, but influenza, RSV, and the next respiratory pathogen that catches us off guard.
Safety, Ethics, and Caveats
This paper is published in Medical Hypotheses, which is exactly what it sounds like—a journal for reasoned speculation, not confirmed clinical findings. The authors are proposing a mechanism, not reporting a trial. That distinction matters.
Zinc is safe within normal supplementation ranges, but high doses cause nausea, suppress copper absorption, and can backfire on immune function over time. Iodine has a narrow therapeutic window—too much disrupts thyroid function. DMSO is FDA-approved for one indication (interstitial cystitis), has a reasonable safety record at appropriate doses, and has been used in IV contexts, but topical application at high concentrations isn’t without risk, particularly if your skin isn’t clean.
The combination of all three hasn’t been tested in humans for this purpose. Anyone reading this as a treatment guide is moving faster than the evidence. I’m experimenting on myself, with awareness of the risks and years of reading behind me. That’s a different situation than following a protocol you found online.
Also worth noting: this paper was written in early 2020, during the frantic early months of COVID-19. Some of the urgency in the framing reflects that context.
One last thing
Being sick is annoying enough that it makes you want to do something. That instinct isn’t wrong—it just needs to stay tethered to what’s actually known. The ZnI₂ + DMSO hypothesis is worth watching, and the individual components have real biological logic behind them. But the honest answer right now is: interesting idea, no trials yet, proceed thoughtfully.
My cold, for what it’s worth, is improving. Whether that’s DMSO, time, or sleep is genuinely unclear. Science is like that.
Explore the full study
“Zinc Iodide in combination with Dimethyl Sulfoxide for treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and other viral infections” Hoang BX, Hoang HQ, Han B. Medical Hypotheses, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109866