For a virus to spread inside you, it needs to get it into your cells and then start making copies of itself. But there is a class of substances called zinc ionophores- think of it as a zinc delivery system or a zinc gun that opens a canal, a channel in the cell membrane allows the zinc to go from outside the cell to inside the cell, and when there's enough intracellular or enough zinc inside the cell, it blocks that enzyme and stops the virus from making copies of its genetic material, shutting down the spread of the virus.