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• Smoking can make H1N1 effects worse  

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has named groups of people at a high risk of developing serious complications from H1N1 Influenza.

In keeping with the last two subpopulation releases which were focused on pregnant women and breastfeeding moms, the Sedgwick County Health Department will continue to send monthly releases focused on different subgroups.

Currently, one of the highest-priority groups consists of persons with chronic respiratory conditions.

These types of conditions, including asthma and heart disease, often arise from smoking.

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• Cigarettes harbor many pathogenic bacteria 

Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

The research team describes the study as the first to show that "cigarettes themselves could be the direct source of exposure to a wide array of potentially pathogenic microbes among smokers and other people exposed to secondhand smoke." Still, the researchers caution that the public health implications are unclear and urge further research.

"We were quite surprised to identify such a wide variety of human bacterial pathogens in these products," says lead researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health.

"The commercially-available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans," explains Sapkota, who holds a joint appointment with the University's Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and the department of epidemiology and biostatistics.

"If these organisms can survive the smoking process -- and we believe they can -- then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke," . . .

The study will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. . . .

Sapkota's team took a more holistic approach using DNA microarray analysis to estimate the so-called bacterial metagenome, the totality of bacterial genetic material present in the tested cigarettes.

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The commercially-available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans. If these organisms can survive the smoking process -- and we believe they can -- then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.
Lead researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health, on the study that will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

• Tobacco smoke linked with respiratory diseases 

Tobacco smoke is involved in uncontrolled asthma, a diminished response to anti-asthma drugs, rhinitis, nasal obstruction, and deregulation of the immune system according to an international expert at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Miami Beach, Fla.

Tobacco smoking has been mainly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and is attributed to being one of the main reasons that COPD disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

"Recent studies have shown that smoking can be linked with other respiratory diseases such as asthma exacerbations and rhinitis," said Carlos Baena-Cagnani, M.D., faculty of medicine, at Catholic University of Cordoba in Argentina. "Both active and passive smoking has been shown to be involved in uncontrolled asthma and associated with asthma exacerbations in children and adolescents."

According to Dr. Baena-Cagnani, active smoking also causes changes in inflammation in asthma patients, diminishes their response to anti-asthma drugs, and has been found to induce nasal obstruction and decreased mucociliary clearance.

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• Smokers With Common Autoimmune Disorder At Higher Risk For Skin Damage 

a team of researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have just found another. A study led by Dr. Christian A Pineau, Co-Director of the Lupus and Vasculitis clinic at the MUHC, has clearly linked skin damage and rashes to smoking in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Rheumatology.

SLE is a long-term autoimmune disorder affecting about one in every 2000 people. About 90 per cent of SLE patients are women, many of them young. Symptoms are caused by an overactive immune system, and the disease can cause inflammation and damage in almost any organ system, including the skin.

"Up to 85 per cent of people with SLE develop skin involvement at some point," explains Dr. Pineau. "Our study shows that the risk of skin damage such as permanent hair loss and scarring from skin inflammation is significantly increased in smokers. So is the rate of active lupus rash."

While there is no cure for SLE, symptoms can be treated with drugs. "However, smoking may interfere with the effectiveness of some medications used to control skin disease in SLE," says Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, study co-author and physician in the MUHC's Rheumatology Division. "This may be part of the reason why smoking heightens skin damage in SLE.

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• E Cigarettes May Be More Effective Than Swine Flu Vaccine  

According to the Centers for Disease Control, during 2000-2004, "An estimated 443,000 persons in the United States died prematurely each year from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke. During 2001-2004, the average annual smoking-attributable health-care expenditures nationwide were approximately $96 billion. When combined with productivity losses of $97 billion, the total economic burden of smoking is approximately $193 billion per year."

Comparing the health risks of tobacco smoking to the Swine Flu brings out some interesting and thought provoking statistics. According to President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on H1N1, "A plausible scenario is that the epidemic could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States." That puts the comparison of real deaths of 443,000 smokers to a "war games guess" of 30,000 to 90,000 for the H1N1 influenza for which the government recently declared a Health Emergency. That declaration and the shortage of the H1N1 vaccine has caused a panic in the U.S.

No study or statistic has been offered that points to the Swine Flu as being more deadly than tobacco cigarettes in causing death, yet a disproportional effort in preventative measures are currently being channeled to defend against a lower risk health issue. Toxic tobacco smoke contains many additional chemicals, including carbon monoxide and tar which is a sticky substance that accumulates in the lungs, causing lung cancer and respiratory distress. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world and is responsible for more than 5 million deaths each year.

What the flu vaccine is to H1N1 as a preventative, the electronic cigarette may be for the tobacco smoker. An electronic cigarette is a futuristic advancement in science

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• Dendritic Cells Spark Smoldering Inflammation In Smokers' Lungs 

Inflammation still ravages the lungs of some smokers years after they quit the habit. What sparks that smoldering destruction remained a mystery until a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine found that certain dendritic cells in the lung - the cells that "present" a foreign antigen or protein to the immune system - provoke production of destructive T-cells that attack a key protein called elastin, leading to death of lung tissue and emphysema.

A report of their work appears in the current issue of Science Transformational Medicine. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates that 2 million Americans have emphysema, most of them over the age of 50 years. People with emphysema find it harder and harder to breathe as the lung's air sacs or alveoli are destroyed, causing holes in the lung and blocking airways. They have difficulty exchanging oxygen as their lungs become less elastic. Cigarette smoking is the greatest risk factor for the disease that contributes to as many as 100,000 deaths each year.

In previous work, Dr. Farrah Kheradmand, associate professor of medicine - pulmonary and immunology at BCM, and colleagues had shown that T-helper cells and some enzymes in the lung destroyed tissue in the lungs of emphysema patients. . . .

When the embargo lifts, this report will be available at http://stm.sciencemag.org/

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• Ciggie smoke 'weakens lungs' natural defense against harmful pathogen 

Exposure to cigarette smoke might weaken immune cells' ability to remove bacterial infections from the lungs, specifically nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI), a pathogen often associated with respiratory infections and the progression of respiratory disease, says a new study.

NTHI has been found to cause invasive diseases such as meningitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, and bronchitis.

It is also the pathogen most frequently isolated in the respiratory tract of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis.

Alveolar macrophages are part of the lungs'' innate defense system and they play an essential role in the clearance of bacterial infections.

The research team has found that cigarette smoke may disrupt the capability of alveolar macrophages to clear NTHI from the lungs. . . .

The study appears in journal Infection and Immunity.

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• Smoking Raises Arthritis Risk and Makes It Harder to Treat  

Smoking cigarettes can lead to the development of rheumatic diseases and make them harder to treat, according to three new studies presented this week at the 2009 annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Philadelphia.

The first study focused on what happens when people with rheumatoid arthritis light up while being treated for the disease.

Researchers looked at the medical records of 1,756 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in Sweden, determined their smoking history or lack thereof and then looked at their response to methotrexate or anti-TNF therapy - two common RA treatments. . . .

Mark Fisher, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says he found this the most impressive study of the three. "There aren't any studies that show smoking has an effect on response to methotrexate and it was a really well done study. So for those reasons I think it's significant," Dr. Fisher says.

A second study found that smoking is associated with organ damage and disease activity in people with systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, lungs, nervous system and other organs.

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• Autoimmune Condition, Especially Combined With Smoking And Oral Contraceptive Use, Massively Increases Risk Of Stroke And Heart Attack In Young Women 

The autoimmune condition antiphospholipid syndrome mainly affects young women. An Article published Online First and in the November edition of The Lancet Neurology shows that women with a particular subtype of antibody called lupus anticoagulant (LA) have a more than 40-fold increased risk of stroke and 5-fold increased risk of heart attack compared with the general population (of young women). Smoking and oral contraceptive use increase the risk of these events even more. The Article is written by Dr Rolf Urbanus and Dr Philip de Groot, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands, together with colleagues from the Leiden University Medical Centre.

Antiphospholipid syndrome occurs when autoantibodies* bind to cell membranes, interfering with the regular clotting mechanism of the blood. Diagnosis occurs when young women (under 50 years) suffer a thrombotic event such as a stroke or heart attack, and antiphospholipid antibodies are tested. Although it is known that this condition causes thrombosis, bleeding, and repeat miscarriage in women, the extent of the increased risk for stroke and heart attack was unknown before this study. . . .

In an accompanying Reflection and Reaction, Dr Kathryn Kirchoff-Torres and Dr Steven R Levine, Stroke Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA, say that the most important aspect of the study is its conclusion that young women with LA need to be warned about the dangers of smoking and use of oral contraceptives.

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• Passive smoking in cars linked to hayfever and wheezing in children 

Children who are regularly exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke when traveling by car have significantly higher rates of hayfever and wheezing than those without such exposure, results of an Irish study show.

Writing in the European Respiratory Journal, Luke Clancy, from the Tobacco Free Research Institute in Dublin, and team explain: “Children may be more vulnerable to second-hand smoke-induced respiratory diseases due to smaller airways and greater oxygen demand, as well as a less-mature immune system.”

But they add that “there is no evidence quantifying second-hand smoke-induced respiratory health effects in children exposed to second-hand smoke in cars.”

To address this, the team studied 2809 children, aged 13–14 years, selected randomly from schools throughout Ireland.

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• Treating COPD Early Improves Outcomes  

Although there is no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), starting treatment early may slow progression of the illness and add years to the lives of sufferers, new research finds.

COPD is a progressive, destructive disease of the lungs that is usually brought on by years of smoking. Symptoms include restricted breathing, secretion of mucus, oxidative stress and airway inflammation. It is estimated that as many as 24 million Americans have COPD, and the number is rising.

Three reports published in the Aug. 29 issue of The Lancet, a special issue devoted to COPD, offer new insight into treatments, including a new anti-inflammatory drug that shows promise.

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• Smokers Risk Swine Flu Complications Like Pneumonia, Data Show  

Smokers may be prone to developing life-threatening complications from swine flu, according to patient data from Hong Kong, where tobacco use was noted in almost half of severe cases.

Twelve of 27 swine flu patients who developed pneumonia and other serious illnesses were either current or former smokers and some had no other known risk factors, Thomas Tsang, acting controller of Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection, told a medical meeting in Beijing yesterday.

“The proportion of smokers among the serious cases is pretty high,” Tsang said in an interview. “So far this is just one observation that stands out and we need to investigate it.”

Tsang’s findings may shed more light on a mystery that doctors are grappling with: why the new flu remains mild for a majority of people and is severe enough to kill in others. Worldwide, about 1,800 people infected with H1N1 have died since the virus was discovered in April.

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• 'Cruise Ship Virus' Vaccine Stems From Tobacco  

Scientists have developed a vaccine for the common viral infection norovirus from a novel source: a tobacco plant.

The new vaccine was "manufactured" in a tobacco plant using a bioengineered plant virus.

This plant biotechnology opens the door to faster, more inexpensive ways to bring vaccines to the public quickly, especially in times when viruses mutate into unpredictable new strains, said Charles Arntzen, who reported on the vaccine at the American Chemical Society annual meeting, in Washingtopn, D.C.

"The recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza virus has once again reminded us of the ability of disease-causing agents to mutate into new and dangerous forms," Arntzen said.

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• VIDEO: Swine flu fears impact hookah smokers in Jordan 

Worldfocus partner Al Arabiya reports from the front lines of the hookah-smoking world in Jordan (translated and narrated by Worldfocus producer Mohammad al-Kassim).

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• Quitting Smoking Causes Quick Drop in Inflammation 

Just weeks after quitting smoking, women show major reductions in several markers of inflammation associated with heart disease risk, new research shows.

The findings point the way to a strategy for encouraging people at risk of heart disease to kick the habit, the study's authors say.

Smoking is known to promote inflammation, while quitting cuts the risk of developing and dying from heart and lung disease, Dr. Christine N. Metz of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, and her colleagues write in the medical journal Chest. However, it's unknown whether benefits are seen immediately after a person quits.

To investigate, they performed blood tests for several markers of inflammation, including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and other substances, in 36 women participating in a smoking cessation program.

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