Vaping May Boost Pneumonia Risk: Study Finds
Sumaira FH Published February 23, 2018 | 09:35 AM
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Feb, 2018 ) :Vaping may help pneumonia-causing bacteria stick to cells lining the airways, likely boosting disease risk, researchers said. A study published in the European Respiratory Journal did not directly compare vaping�s effect to that of smoking tobacco cigarettes.
But the findings did suggest that users of electronic cigarettes may be at higher risk of lung infection than people who do not vape, the research team said. "If you choose to take up e-cigarettes...
this indicates a red flag that there may be an increased susceptibility" to pneumococcal bacteria, study co-author Jonathan Grigg of the Queen Mary University of London told, Health news reported.
Grigg and a team conducted three types of experiment. One exposed human nose lining cells to e-cigarette vapour in the lab, another involved mice inhaling vapour and then being exposed to pneumococcal bacteria, the main cause of pneumonia.
A third trial studied the nose lining of 11 e-cigarette users compared to six non-vapers. The team noticed a sharp increase in the amount of bacteria sticking to airway cells after e-cigarette exposure.
Such adhesion has previously been shown to increase susceptibility to disease.
"Some people may be vaping because they think it is totally safe, or in an attempt to quit smoking, but this study adds to growing evidence that inhaling vapour has the potential to cause adverse health effects," said Grigg.
"By contrast, other aids to quitting such as (nicotine) patches or gum do not result in airway cells being exposed to high concentrations of potentially toxic compounds." E-cigarettes, said to contain no tar and fewer toxins than tobacco cigarettes, were developed as a safer alternative to tobacco smoking.
But many people fear that a harmless veneer may make e-cigarettes a "gateway" for young people to lifelong nicotine addiction. Commenting on the latest study, Peter Openshaw, an experimental medicine professor at Imperial College London, said any evidence that vaping raised lung infection risk was "only indirect".
"Although it is possible that vaping might increase susceptibility to pneumonia, the effect is likely to be lower than from smoking itself," he said via the Science Media Centre. "This study should not be used as a reason to continue to smoke rather than vape the evidence to date is that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking."
Recent Stories
Vice President WB calls on Chairman FBR
FIA arrests outlaw in visa fraud case
IESCO issues power suspension programme
Second UK lawmaker defects to Labour in new blow for PM
PIA announces Pre-Hajj flight operations from May 9
Marriyum Aurangzeb orders swift completion of CM's 33 special projects
Farmers advised to start rice cultivation from May 20
FESCO issues shutdown program
Mohsin Naqvi visits Frontier Corps North’s headquarters
UK says to expel Russia defence attache for intel role
President approves appointment of Rubina Khalid as BISP Chairperson
Lahore, Karachi to face each other in final of National Women’s One-Day Tourna ..
More Stories From Pakistan
-
FIA arrests outlaw in visa fraud case
4 minutes ago -
IESCO issues power suspension programme
4 minutes ago -
PIA announces Pre-Hajj flight operations from May 9
56 minutes ago -
Marriyum Aurangzeb orders swift completion of CM's 33 special projects
56 minutes ago -
Farmers advised to start rice cultivation from May 20
56 minutes ago -
FESCO issues shutdown program
56 minutes ago
-
Mohsin Naqvi visits Frontier Corps North’s headquarters
56 minutes ago -
President approves appointment of Rubina Khalid as BISP Chairperson
56 minutes ago -
Two real brothers clinch positions in first Punjab music competition
1 hour ago -
Polio virus detected in four environmental samples
1 hour ago -
Tahir Ashrafi demands punishment for May-9 culprits
56 minutes ago -
Governor KP visits Sehwan Sharif, lays wreath at Qalandar shrine
56 minutes ago