Corona current: Are smokers at risk?

They stand there with a cigarette. On the balcony, on the street corner, recently alone, maybe in pairs. Many young people seem to feel strong and invulnerable in Corona times. The smoldering stick between your right index and middle finger, which is supposed to provide relaxation, could catapult you directly into the risk group.

In the past few weeks, new information about the coronavirus has been published almost every hour. The novel pathogen is also unknown to scientists – and must first be researched. Meanwhile, there is great uncertainty among the population: when do I belong to the risk group? Am I more vulnerable as a smoker? And should I stop now? We asked these questions to those responsible for the medical portal "Pulmonologists on the Net".

Smoking increases the risk of corona twice

The expert platform has published a statement on this aspect by the President of the German Society for Pneumology and Respiratory Medicine (DGP) and Head of Pneumology at the Regensburg University Hospital. Because Prof. Michael Pfeifer is certain: Even if the study situation is not yet able to provide clear results, smoking is a risk factor for Covid-19.

On the one hand, the professor uses this assumption to refer to previous knowledge Susceptibility to infection of smokers. Small cilia in the lungs usually protect us from intruders such as pathogens. Smoking would, however, disrupt this "self-cleaning mechanism" – and weaken your own immune system. "We know this from everyday clinical practice – but it has not yet been proven in the current corona virus," explains Prof. Pfeifer.

On the other hand, it is assumed that smoking per se not only increases the risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus, but above all one thing severe course of Covid-19. There are even clear insights from Wuhan on this point, as Prof. Pfeifer reports. There is evidence that the risk of pneumonia as a result of infection with the coronavirus is significantly increased for smokers.

Not good news for smokers – after all, many people take a cigarette especially in stressful situations. Still, there is hardly a better reason to quit smoking than the acute corona pandemic, right?

You are certainly not alone with the thought. Maybe you team up with friends? We have a few tips here to stop smoking.

sources used: Pulmonologists on the net, dpa