Smoking and Covid-19 : The Story Behind Nicotine!

Statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that tobacco kills an estimated eight million people every year. However, a recent report has claimed that smokers were less likely to contract the Coronavirus. The report has raised eyebrows.
A preliminary study by the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, stated that "current smoking status appears to be a protective factor against the infection by SARS-CoV-2". Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital wrote that "nicotine may be suggested as a potential preventive agent against Covid-19 infection", based on scientific literature and the hospital's own observations. But the study also warned that "nicotine is a drug of abuse responsible for smoking addiction". Smoking has severe pathological consequences and remains a serious danger for health. Despite this, the new information has clouded evidence about the relationship between smoking and Covid-19. 
According to WHO, those who smoke are likely to be more vulnerable to infection. Smokers, WHO reveals, may also already have lung disease or reduced lung capacity which would greatly increase the risk of serious illness linked to Covid-19. These are conditions that increase oxygen needs or reduce the ability of the body to use it properly. Such conditions put patients at higher risk of serious lung conditions such as pneumonia. It is also theorised that smokers are more at risk of infection because of the effect tobacco can have on ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme II) receptors. These genes are located in human cells, and notably in the respiratory system. "Covid-19 needs to sit in this receptor to spread and duplicate, and we also know that smoking can up-regulate this receptor, so it can create more of these receptors for Covid-19 to sit within," Dr Kayat   from the UK told Euronews. A report in March by the European Centre f...