This is information that has been spreading more and more in recent days. Indeed, smoking could be an aggravating factor in the face of the coronavirus. According to the pulmonologist Jean-Philippe Santoni, the use of cannabis that causes lung damage can also be considered at risk.
SMOKING AND CANNABIS, AN AGGRAVATING FACTOR WITH COVID-19
In this period of pandemic, the best solution would obviously be not to vape and even less to smoke… However, the addiction is there and it is not easy to detach from certain habits in a few days. According to National Committee Against Smoking : » There is clear evidence that smokers are at increased risk of contracting [the new coronavirus] and developing a serious form of the disease. The committee recalls in particular that smoking affects the immune system and lung capacity. "
Jean-Philippe Santoni, pulmonologist at the Souffle Foundation, attests: "There is indeed an increased risk of severe forms of the disease in smokers." It is based in particular on a study carried out on patients with COVID-2 in China and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. «We learn that the risk of going into intensive care and death goes from 5% to 12% for smokers compared to non-smokers.».
Franck Chauvin, President of High Council of Public Health (HSCP) specifies the risk of smoking in these pandemic times: «Tobacco is certainly not considered as a factor as convincing as diabetes or immunosuppression. But all people who have pulmonary weaknesses and who are likely to have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic inflammatory disease of the bronchi very often linked to smoking, Editor's note) must be careful: as soon as there is failure of lung capacity, Covid-19 risks reinforcing these attacks in sometimes dramatic ways. ".
THE VAPE? THE BLUR OF POTENTIAL "DANGER" WITH COVID-19
If smoking is undoubtedly an aggravating factor of coronavirus, it remains difficult for experts to decide on vaping. According to the National Committee against Smoking, it is " Too early to say". However, the committee specifies «On the other hand, what is certain is that the particles present in the vapor exhaled by vapers infected with the coronavirus are potentially carriers of the virus. ".
Faced with risks and doubt, the Pr Yves Martinet, president of the national committee against smoking, calls smokers and vapers to "stop as soon as possible», Or at least not to smoke inside their accommodation.
Source : Le Figaro
