Vaping can make you more prone to Covid infection: Study

While tobacco smokers are known to have worse Covid19 outcomes a new study showed that vapers are more susceptible to infection by the SARSCoV2 virusThe electronic cigarettes typically contain an eliquid made up of nicotine propylene glycol vegetable glycerin and flavour chemicalsThe researchers at the University of California Riverside found that propylene glycolvegetable glycerin alone or along with nicotine enhanced Covid infection through different mechanismsFurther the addition of benzoic acid to eliquids prevents the infection caused by propylene glycol vegetable glycerin and nicotine they said in the paper appearing in the American Journal of PhysiologyUsers who vape aerosols produced from propylene glycolvegetable glycerin alone or eliquids with a neutral to basic pH are more likely to be infected by the virus while users who vape aerosols made from eliquids with benzoic acid an acidic pH will have the same viral susceptibility as individuals who do not vape said Rattapol Phandthong a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Cell and Systems Biology from the varsityThe team obtained airway stem cells from human donors to produce a 3D tissue model of human bronchial epithelium They then exposed the tissues to JUUL and BLU electronic cigarette aerosols to study the effect on SARSCoV2 infectionThey found that all tissues showed an increase in the amount of ACE2 a host cell receptor for the SARSCoV2 virus Further TMPRSS2 an enzyme essential for the virus to infect cells was found to show increased activity in tissues exposed to aerosols with nicotinePrue Talbot a professor of the graduate division at the varsity said that ecigarette users should be cautious about vaping as some products will increase their susceptibility to SARSCoV2 infectionIt would probably be best for vapers to quit vaping for the protection of their health and to stop nicotine dependency she saidPhandthong warned ldquoit is worth bearing in mind that the scientific literature has shown that a vaper who contracted SARSCoV2 has more complications during the recovery period and is more likely to develop long Covid19 which can be serious and last many months postinfection We hope our findings encourage vapers to stop vaping and discourage nonusers from starting to vapeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever