Posted 1 июня 2020, 08:18

Published 1 июня 2020, 08:18

Modified 24 декабря 2022, 22:37

Updated 24 декабря 2022, 22:37

Smokers and drinkers are at risk of contracting coronavirus

1 июня 2020, 08:18
In addition to senior citizens and those suffering from chronic diseases, the risk of contracting coronavirus is increased in those who drink alcohol and smoke, said a professor at Moscow State Medical University. Sechenova, President of the Russian Association of Public Health Andrei Dyomin.

The expert criticized those who argued for the positive effects of alcohol and cigarettes on COVID-19.

- For starters, it’s worth “spitting” in the direction of business, which at the beginning of the epidemic began to advertise cigarettes and alcohol as a kind of salvation, which almost protects against infection. That supposedly alcohol kills the virus in the lungs, and those who smoke are less susceptible to the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) examined this issue and made an official conclusion that any consumption of alcohol, in addition to affecting the immune system, is also harmful to the lungs, disrupts the synthesis of necessary substances in the liver, and these are just these two “systems” in the body, which should neutralize all harmful substances in it, - Dyomin said in an interview with the Parliamentary newspaper.

He explained that the body of a person abusing smoking and alcohol is weakening, and therefore the likelihood of getting serious complications of the disease becomes much higher. He specified that there is no confirmed "protective role" of alcohol in coronavirus, "there is only a burden". The same, said the professor, and with smoking.

- Nature has so provided that all of our organs and functions have a certain margin of safety, a functional reserve. For many smokers, these reserves are exhausted even before they encounter the infection. Therefore, smokers and drinkers along with chronic patients and elderly people can be attributed to the risk group for coronavirus, the doctor said.

Regarding the complications themselves, Dyomin recalled that according to statistics, 42% of hospitalized with coronavirus in Wuhan, China, had sepsis, 36% had respiratory failure, 12% had heart failure, and 7% had severe blood coagulation. In addition, with coronavirus infection, the gastrointestinal tract is often affected, the functioning of the kidneys, liver, brain, peripheral nervous system, blood vessels, microcirculation is disturbed, and skin manifestations are also noted.

Moreover, the virus is able to change the functions of the immune system, liver, kidneys and other organs even when there are no clinical manifestations of the disease.

Rospotrebnadzor reported that smokers tolerate COVID-19 harder than non-smokers.

Earlier, scientists at Wuhan University announced that a small percentage of smokers infected with coronavirus accounted for only 1.4%. The report that coronavirus infects smokers to a much lesser extent was published in February in the European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Researchers at Texas College of Medicine, the University of South Carolina and other institutions later called tobacco smoking a potential risk factor for infection.

To date, 6 166 978 cases of new coronavirus infection have been reported in the world. In total, 372,037 people died from the disease. In Russia, 405 843 cases of COVID-19 infection were detected. 171 883 patients recovered, 4 693 patients died.

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