“Teens and young adults need to know that if you use e-cigarettes, you are likely at immediate risk of Covid-19 because you are damaging your lungs,” said the researcher of study’s senior author Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor of paediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. A study also suggests that: “Young people who use e-cigarettes are five to seven times more likely than non-smokers to be infected with corona-virus”.
Vaping also seems to impair the protections afforded by youth against the symptoms of the corona-virus, warned scientists who analyzed data from across the US. Researchers analyzed survey responses from 4,351 people aged between 13 and 24 from across every US state. Participants were asked whether they had ever used e-cigarettes or conventional cigarettes and if they had vaped or smoked in the last 30 days. They also answered questions about whether they had suffered corona-virus symptoms and been tested for or diagnosed with the disease.
Among people tested for Covid-19, those who had used e-cigarettes at any time in the past were five times more likely to receive a positive result than those who had not, the study found. That figure rose to 6.8 times more likely among respondents who had used both e-cigarettes and tobacco in the previous month.
“Young people may believe their age protects them from contracting the virus or that they will not experience symptoms of Covid-19, but the data show this isn’t true among those who vape,” said postdoctoral researcher Shivani Mathur Gaiha. She added: “This study tells us pretty clearly that youth who are using vapes or are dual-using are at elevated risk, and it’s not just a small increase in risk; it’s a big one.”
Young people who had both vaped and smoked in the previous 30 days were almost five times more likely than non-smokers to suffer Covid-19 symptoms, such as coughing, fever, tiredness and difficulty breathing, the data showed.
Previous research has indicated smoking tobacco increases the risk of patients falling seriously ill with corona-virus. The disease primarily attacks the lungs, whose function is impaired by regular cigarette use.
Vaping is widely believed to be less damaging to health than cigarettes, and the NHS advises that e-cigarettes can be “an effective aid” to permanently quitting smoking.
But there is evidence e-cigarette use impairs lungs’ ability to fight off infections, and academics have cautioned it is too early to say if vaping inflicts less long-term damage than smoking.
“When someone’s lungs are exposed to flu or other infections the adverse effects of smoking or vaping are much more serious than among people who do not smoke or vape,” wrote Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the Centre of Tobacco Control Research and Education, in a blog post in May.
According to WHO(World Health Organization), smokers and vapers(use cigarettes, water pipes, Bidis, cigars, heated tobacco products) more likely contract the COVID-19 because the act of smoking or vaping involves fingers(maybe contaminated tobacco) which will touch your lips and significantly increase the possibility that the germs have the access to your mouth then your body.
Advice for Vapers and Smokers During COVID-19
- If you are under age, do not smoke & vape.
- If you are a smoker, it’s a good chance to quit. Or you can find nicotine alternatives, ENDSis a good choice which is 95% less harmful than smoking.
- If you are a vaper, try to reduce the use of vaping devices and cut down the nicotine strength of the e-liquid.
- Do not use the shared mouthpiece hookah.
- Do not spread the second hand smoking to others(use a smokeless product).
- Do not spit in the public.
- Understand the importance of cleaning and sterilizing hands and mouth whenever you eat,drink or vape.