Vaping affects how body reacts to flu viruses like Covid-19, study suggests – sometimes even more than regular smoking
- People who smoke e-cigarettes show a suppression of immune genes critical for defence against flu viruses, researchers have found
- Results also raise questions as to whether vaccines would be as effective among e-cigarette users
People who use e-cigarettes have significantly altered immune responses to influenza viruses, researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in the US have found. That is a worrying discovery as flu season approaches and coronavirus surges across the US and many other countries.
E-cigarettes have boomed in popularity in the past decade, even as the use of traditional cigarettes declined. The rise has been especially pronounced among the youth population.
Because of that, researchers have been focusing more attention on the potential health risks of e-cigarettes. This is especially true with a respiratory-related pandemic raging across the globe.
“There’s been a lot of questions in the field as to whether e-cigarette and cigarette use is beneficial or damaging or problematic in terms of Covid-19 and we really haven’t had a good answer,” Meghan Rebuli, an assistant professor in the UNC department of paediatrics, said.
But when compared to non-users, people who vaped e-cigarettes showed more changes in the immune genes in their respiratory cells that fight off viruses. They also showed a suppressed level of antibodies.