While cautioning that they don't want anybody to start smoking cigarettes, doctors in France have noticed that smokers (about 25% of French population) are significantly underrepresented among COVID-19 patients. Chinese scientists reported something similar last month in the NEJM.

Now they are testing nicotine patches to check their hypothesis.
[www.theguardian.com]

The renowned French neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux, who reviewed the study, suggested the nicotine might stop the virus from reaching cells in the body preventing its spread. Nicotine may also lessen the overreaction of the body’s immune system that has been found in the most severe cases of Covid-19 infection.

The findings are to be verified in a clinical study in which frontline health workers, hospital patients with the Covid-19 virus and those in intensive care will be given nicotine patches.

The results confirm a Chinese study published at the end of March in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested only 12.6% of 1,000 people infected with the virus were smokers while the number of smokers in China is around 28%.


The study:
[www.qeios.com]


This is about protection from acquiring the infection to begin with - smokers who do get it are going to have a rough time with their weakened lungs as we've heard.
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Smokers stink and no one wants to be near them.

medical experts can't be wrong!

Dear god, what a terrible perverse incentive.....

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Dead tomorrow or dead sometime later from slow lingering lung cancer. At least dead tomorrow is quick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2020 03:59PM by RgrF.

I guess now the idiots will start smoking.

CW2V

What if they find out it has nothing to do with nicotine? (It could be due to one of the zillion toxic chemicals in cigarettes.)

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Quote
AllGold
What if they find out it has nothing to do with nicotine? (It could be due to one of the zillion toxic chemicals in cigarettes.)

That's entirely possible. Many rats will need to smoke for a while until we find out.

Phillip Morris a few weeks ago started working on covid and tobacco I think I read.