How Often and How Badly Do Vapers and Smokers Get Sick with COVID-19?

Vapers between the ages of 13 and 24 get COVID-19 five times more often than their peers. Consumers of cigarettes of the same period are 2.3 times more likely. Young people and adolescents who use both vapes and cigarettes are 7 times more likely. The details of a study of 4,351 people are published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Tobacco smokers have a 98% higher risk of severe or critical COVID-19. For ex-smokers, the risk is lower – 35%. However, they still have a 26% higher risk of death, disease progression is 2.2 times more likely, and they require mechanical ventilation by 20% more often. The details of a meta-analysis of studies of 32,849 hospitalized COVID-19 patients are published in the Journal of Medical Virology.

There are no similar statistics on hookah. However, Canadian doctors note that hookah is ideal for transmitting coronavirus infection: long pipes complicate disinfection, and a moist, cool environment increases the survival of the virus.

Other Canadian experts have quantitatively compared hookah smoke and cigarette smoke. When using a hookah, the amount of smoke inhaled is about 40 times greater than cigarettes. Moreover, inhaled harmful compounds are 1.4 times more for arsenic and 80 times more for lead than cigarette smoke. Details of the study are published in the Redox Biology journal.

What is The Severity of COVID-19 in Vapers and Smokers

  • Cigarette smoke 3 times accelerates the multiplication of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the epithelial cells of the respiratory tract. During the recovery phase, tobacco smoke interferes with the proliferation of airway stem cells, from which epithelial tissue is formed. A detailed description of these processes is published in Cell magazine.
  • Vape pair reduces the amount of IgA antibodies against coronavirus in the lungs, produced during the first stage of infection. Details of the study are published in the Frontiers in Physiology journal.
  • Vaping and smoking contribute to the development of pneumonia because smoke and steam create a comfortable environment in the lungs for bacteria to multiply and facilitate their entry into epithelial cells. One case of pneumonia caused by vaping is reported in the Respiratory Medicine Case Reports.
  • Tobacco smoke and vape steam cause chronic inflammation in the lungs. When a smoker becomes ill with COVID-19, this chronic inflammation intensifies the cytokine storm. The mechanics and consequences of these processes are published in the Journal of Inflammation.
  • Vaping leads to pathological lung damage: acute respiratory distress syndrome and cardiopulmonary failure. Details of the processes are published in the Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal.

The Mechanism of Innate Immunity Impairment in Smokers and Vapers

Tobacco smoke and vape vapor reduce the antiviral protection of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. The main reason is that they inhibit the interferon system (IFN), which triggers all antiviral processes in the body“How interferon works”.

Cigarette smoke disrupts several mechanisms of interferon at once:

  • The transmission of the IFN signal between cells is impaired since the protein of the cell membrane that captures this signal is degraded. Therefore, the epithelial cells of the respiratory tract cannot warn each other about a viral attack. This mechanism was demonstrated by American scientists from the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Biochemical processes inside the cell break down, which transmit the IFN signal from the membrane to the nucleus. Therefore, the synthesis of antiviral defense proteins does not begin. This effect was demonstrated by American scientists from the University of Iowa.
  • In the epithelial cells of the lungs, the direct production of antiviral proteins does not work well, so the cells do not enter an antiviral state, and they have nothing to fight the virus with. That was demonstrated by Canadian scientists from the Center for Gene Therapy.

Vape aerosols inhibit cells that produce different types of interferonWhat Types of Interferon are Effective for Coronavirus Infection:

  • The genome is damaged, and the cells of the innate immune system that synthesize interferon-alpha: macrophages, monocytes, dendritic cells die. This influence was established by American scientists from the University of California.
  • In the same study, vaping has been shown to reduce the number of lymphocytes that produce interferon-gamma.
  • Many components of vaping fluids damage and kill lung fibroblasts — cells that make interferon-beta. The most dangerous ingredients are glycerin and aromatic additives. Details of the toxicity study of 36 types of vaping fluid are published on the US National Library of Medicine website.
  • Vape vapor containing nicotine is more dangerous for fibroblasts than without nicotine. Details of the study are published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal.

What to Do

  • Treatment with interferon beta compensates for the lack of intrinsic interferon in smokers and reduces viral load in COVID-19. This effect was demonstrated by American scientists from leading research centers.
  • Smoking and vaping are removable factors that make the impact of the pandemic even worse and significantly overburden medical systems in all countries. The problem of vapers and smokers with COVID-19 is so severe that scientists call on officials and politicians to help limit tobacco and vaping until the pandemic ends in each publication.

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