Studies see smokers less affected
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Does nicotine prevent the virus from docking to the cell?
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A freshly published study from France also confirms this picture: Of the 500 Covid-19 patients – including 350 people treated in hospital and 150 patients with an easier course of the disease – only five percent were smokers, according to Zahir Amoura, study leader and professor of internal medicine . That is 80 percent fewer smokers among Covid patients than in the general population in the same age and gender group. The researchers’ assumption: nicotine adheres to the cell receptors that are also used by the corona virus. This may prevent the virus from entering the cell, explains Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux from the Pasteur Institute and the Collège de France.
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Dr. Zinn: “This study is not stable”
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“It would be a glimmer of hope for all smokers and I would wish the smokers too,” says Dr. Georg-Christian Zinn, director of the Hygiene Center Bioscientia, on this hypothesis, “but I think this study is not stable”. Far too little is known about the direct docking of the pathogen, the expert says, pointing out that nicotine is a cell poison that just destroys cells. Chewing tobacco, for example, is highly toxic. Although it cannot be ruled out that viruses can also be killed – “But there is certainly no protective effect from tobacco smoke,” said Dr. Tin. And even if it were found in further studies that the results of the study were correct, the consequential damage would be too high, according to the expert.
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Pharmacologist: Nicotine or other components of tobacco smoke “could have a protective role”
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Pharmacologist and toxicologist Prof. Dr. Bernd Mayer from the University of Graz is also amazed at the numbers in connection with smoking mortality and Covid-19. He has been observing this since the pandemic started. The current figures urgently need to be checked for errors – they are so remarkable, he says in a YouTube statement of April 18. But he is certain that nicotine or other components of tobacco smoke “could have a protective role.” That is why it is important to check and research additional figures in other countries. A recommendation to start smoking now is far away, says Mayer in his video from April 18th.
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Smoking: addiction with dangerous consequences
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Because smoking is and remains extremely unhealthy. The burden of smoking, for example, limits the immune system of the bronchial system. Viruses and Co. have an easier game. “Smokers generally have a higher risk of developing viral infections,” said Professor Michael Pfeifer, President of the German Society for Pneumology. That is why smokers also contract the corona virus faster. In addition, the body ingests countless pollutants every cigarette and they have to be broken down again. Smoking can lead to serious complications. Heart attacksStrokes Lung cancer or smoking legs – the list of sufferings is long. Conventional medical research has shown that heavy smokers – statistically speaking – lose ten years of their life expectancy.
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Video playlist: everything you need to know about the corona virus
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NEW SEQUENCE: RTL.de documentary “Zero Hour – Race with the Virus: How do we defeat Corona?”
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In the second part of the RTL.de documentary “Zero Hour – Race with the Virus” we ask the question: How do we defeat Corona? To this end, the authors compare the various measures taken by individual countries around the world with the current recommendations from researchers.
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