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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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