new Research Cannabidiol (CBD) was found to effectively block the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in human cells.The study was published Thursday in a peer-reviewed journal scientific progress.

A team of 33 researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville found that people who took 100 milligrams per milliliter of high-purity CBD had a lower rate of returning positive COVD-19 tests than a control group that didn’t take CBD.

Three different populations were studied: humans, human lung cancer cells, and mice.

Scientists wanted to determine whether cannabinoids modulate antiviral inflammatory responses.

Initially, the researchers pretreated lung cells with CBD two hours before infection with the virus.

After 48 hours, the researchers found that “CBD effectively inhibited viral replication under non-toxic conditions.”

The study went on to test three SARS-CoV-2 variants and concluded that CBD also inhibited their ability to infect cells.

Combining CBD with THC in a one-to-one ratio inhibited the efficacy of CBD in fighting the virus.

Experiments were then carried out with mice to see if an equivalent effect could be found. Mice were treated with CBD for a week before being exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Then they treated with CBD for another 4 days.

These findings provide important insights into the effectiveness of cannabinoids. “CBD treatment significantly inhibited viral replication in the lungs and turbinates… During this period, the mice showed no signs of clinical disease,” the study said.

“These results establish the preclinical efficacy of CBD as an antiviral agent for SARS-CoV-2 in the early stages of infection.”

Finally, the researchers analyzed 1,212 patients from the National COVID Cohort Collaboration.

Patients with similar medical backgrounds were selected for the study.

The research team selected individuals with a history of epilepsy and subdivided them into those who used CBD to treat their symptoms and those who did not.

Patients using high-potency CBD had significantly lower rates of COVID-19 infection than patients in the non-CBD control group.

“Our findings suggest that CBD and its metabolite 7-OH-CBD can block SARS-CoV-2 infection at an early or even late stage of infection,” the study said.

This study adds to other recent associations between cannabis and treat for the novel coronavirus.

While these findings have clinical implications and are an important step toward furthering the fight against COVID-19, the study’s authors recommend against the use of non-medical formulations of CBD as a preventive or curative therapy at this time.