Rabat – President of the COVID-19 Scientific Council in France, Dr. Jean-Francois Delfraissy, claimed on April 8 that the vast majority of COVID-19 patients in critical condition are non-smokers.
In an interview with the France Info radio station, Delfraissy said that the vast majority of COVID-19 patients in critical condition are non-smokers.
The immunology doctor suggested the nicotine in tobacco may be a form of protection against the virus.
“We never imagined having these types of questions a few weeks ago,” he said.
The doctor warned the audience of the dangers associated with smoking and its undeniable damage to the human respiratory system.
Even if cigarettes protect against COVID-19 contamination, smokers would be exposed to severe forms of the virus once infected, leading to a respiratory polypathology, Delfraissy explained.
The doctor referenced researchers at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, who concluded that only 1.4% of 140 COVID-19 patients were smokers.
In an February interview with the French news channel LCI, Dr. Sandrine Belouzard, a researcher at the National Center of Scientific Research in France, also offered evidence favoring smokers.
She explained that a Chinese study on 1,000 COVID-19 patients revealed that more than 85% of them have never smoked, while only 12-13% have smoked before or are active smokers.
Smokers account for 17% of COVID-19 patients in critical condition, according to the same study.
“I don’t know if it’s statistically significant, but it means that people who have smoked are more likely to develop a severe form of COVID-19,” said Belouzard, adding that smokers tend to have chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.
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