Many experts are now pointing out that the corona virus poses a particular risk to smokers. The Robert Koch Institute even counts smokers among the risk groups for severe courses. But why does the body of a smoker react differently to Covid-19 than that of a non-smoker?
In fact, smokers are more likely to be infected for a variety of reasons . Since the corona virus sticks to objects and surfaces that we could touch with our hands, the top priority is: don’t touch your face! But that’s exactly what smokers do all the time, putting their fingers to their lips with their cigarettes. Viruses can easily get into the mouth from the hand or even from the cigarette itself.
In addition, the so-called smoker ‘s lungs are severely attacked by the ingredients in tobacco smoke. Your defenses of the lower respiratory tract are severely limited . If foreign substances get into the bronchi, they are normally transported out again through the cilia of the bronchial mucosa. However, tobacco smoke destroys precisely these hairs, so that the self-cleaning mechanism of the bronchial tubes no longer works. This makes it easier for pathogens to infect the airways. The lungs of a smoker are also more sensitive to normal respiratory diseases than the lungs of a non-smoker. It is therefore obvious that smokers can become infected more easily and must expect severe courses of infection with Covid-19.
Researchers from the USA are currently drawing attention to another danger from nicotine. Accordingly, nicotine can also directly influence the docking points through which the corona virus enters the lung cells. The researchers assume that smoking increases the number of these docking sites in the lungs, making it easier for the coronavirus to infect the body.
But we also have good news: If you stop smoking now, you can reduce your risk of infection with Covid-19 in the short term or positively influence the course of the disease.
