I have been trying to focus many Tuesday diet and health posts lately on things that can be immediately useful during the pandemic we are in. Here is something that is prosaic, but genuinely useful. Some people have had trouble finding all of the antiseptic wipes they want. Benzalkonium Chloride wipes seem to still be available.

I assume that Benzalkonium Chloride is lethal to the novel coronavirus, but don’t know for sure. (Here is a recent article that is relevant.) What I can vouch for is the usefulness of these Benzalkonium Chloride wipes for another use. Like a large fraction of Americans, I am subject to periodic outbreaks of cold sores. The remedy that my experience showed was the most effective was small vials of Benzalkonium Chloride that one breaks to get the Benzalkonium Chloride onto the little sponge of the applicator. The trouble with this as a remedy is that, because it cost quite a few dollars per application, I was always reluctant to use it in that critical period when I didn’t know whether I had a cold sore or just a minor irritation. Then, searching online about benzalkonium chloride, I discovered that Benzalkonium Chloride wipes were a relatively inexpensive antiseptic wipe. So I made a bulk purchase of Benzalkonium Chloride Antiseptic Towelettes that put things in the 5 cent per towelette range. They would be about 12 cents per towelette if not purchased in bulk, which is still pretty low. So now, when I have any tingle that might possibly be a cold sore, I use a Benzalkonium Chloride wipe immediately and repeat after a few hours, with no inhibition because of the cost. That prevents a lot more cold sores. Indeed, I hardly ever get full-blown cold sores any more.

For annotated links to other posts on diet and health, see:

• Miles Kimball on Diet and Health: A Reader's Guide (the second-to-last section of the organized links is “Pandemic Thoughts on Diet and Health”)