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Paris By investigating the new corona virus, French scientists realized the possible protective effects of nicotine. The assumption is based on the small number of smokers among Covid’s 19 patients; according to various studies around the world, the rate is between 1.4 and 12.5 percent.
At the Parisian hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière, the preventive and therapeutic effects of nicotine patches will soon be examined.
A new study from France provides a more accurate picture: Of the 500 Covid-19 patients, including 350 people treated in the hospital and 150 patients with an easier course of the disease, only five percent were smokers, the leader explained. from the study and professor of internal medicine, Zahir Amoura, the AFP news agency. That’s 80 percent fewer smokers among Covid patients than in the general population of the same age and sex cohort.
Hypothesis: nicotine binds to cellular receptors
“The hypothesis is that nicotine binds to the cellular receptors that the corona virus uses and therefore prevents the virus from binding,” says Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux of the Pasteur Institute and the Collège de France. This means that the virus cannot penetrate cells and spread in the body.
According to Professor Amoura, the study should use nicotine patches of different doses to investigate whether, for example, nurses can receive preventive protection with a cast and whether patients can be treated with it. However, the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, has not yet given the study a green light.
According to the researchers, the fact that the cell receptor in question plays a role in the spread of the virus could also explain the variety of symptoms of Covid-19, including odor loss and neurological disorders. However, people should not storm the tobacco store now, because smoking is a health hazard, scientists warn.
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