5 ms·

I could see this making sense for tobacco users that don't smoke (e.g. chewing tobacco) but for people that smoke...I mean this is a respiratory illness. If you

I could see this making sense for tobacco users that don't smoke (e.g. chewing tobacco) but for people that smoke...I mean this is a respiratory illness. If you have compromised lungs this seems like it would be a nightmare for smokers. Are you concerned at all with the veracity of these claims?

freeflight 6y ago
Not at all, I'm merely sharing information that might be interesting to this situation. Nowhere did I declare anything as fact, I even called something "speculation" by researchers when they don't consider it much one themselves: > There are however, sufficient scientific data to suggest that smoking protection is likely to be mediated by nicotine. SARS-CoV2 is known to use the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for cell entry[14-16], and there is evidence that nicotine modulates ACE2 expression[17]which could in turn modulate the nicotinic acetyl choline receptor (manuscript submitted). We hypothesize that SARS-CoV2 might alter the control of the nicotine receptor by acetylcholine. This hypothesis may also explain why previous studies have found an association between smoking and Covid-19 severity[1, 9, 10]. As hospitals generally impose smoking cessation and nicotine withdrawal at the time of hospitalization, tobacco (nicotine) cessation could lead to the release of nicotine receptors, that are increased in smokers, and to a “rebound effect” responsible for the worsening of disease observed in hospitalized smokers. In that context, it really doesn't matter if this is a "respiratory illness", as nicotine can be applied in a number of ways, like patches. So even tho it might seem counter-intuitive, this could be part of a plausible explanation why smokers are so underrepresented among COVID-19 patients not just in France, but also in the US and China.

5 ms·

I could see this making sense for tobacco users that don't smoke (e.g. chewing tobacco) but for people that smoke...I mean this is a respiratory illness. If you

by acconrad 6y ago

freeflight 6y ago
Not at all, I'm merely sharing information that might be interesting to this situation. Nowhere did I declare anything as fact, I even called something "speculation" by researchers when they don't consider it much one themselves: > There are however, sufficient scientific data to suggest that smoking protection is likely to be mediated by nicotine. SARS-CoV2 is known to use the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for cell entry[14-16], and there is evidence that nicotine modulates ACE2 expression[17]which could in turn modulate the nicotinic acetyl choline receptor (manuscript submitted). We hypothesize that SARS-CoV2 might alter the control of the nicotine receptor by acetylcholine. This hypothesis may also explain why previous studies have found an association between smoking and Covid-19 severity[1, 9, 10]. As hospitals generally impose smoking cessation and nicotine withdrawal at the time of hospitalization, tobacco (nicotine) cessation could lead to the release of nicotine receptors, that are increased in smokers, and to a “rebound effect” responsible for the worsening of disease observed in hospitalized smokers. In that context, it really doesn't matter if this is a "respiratory illness", as nicotine can be applied in a number of ways, like patches. So even tho it might seem counter-intuitive, this could be part of a plausible explanation why smokers are so underrepresented among COVID-19 patients not just in France, but also in the US and China.