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Abstract

The epicenter of the original outbreak in China has high male smoking rates of around50%, and early reported death rates have an emphasis on older males, therefore the likelihood ofsmokers being overrepresented in fatalities is high. In Iran, China, Italy, and South Korea, femalesmoking rates are much lower than males. Fewer females have contracted the virus. If this analysisis correct, then Indonesia would be expected to begin experiencing high rates of Covid-19 becauseits male smoking rate is over 60% (Tobacco Atlas). Smokers are vulnerable to respiratory viruses.Smoking can upregulate angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor, the known receptorfor both the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the humanrespiratory coronavirus NL638. This could also be true for new electronic smoking devices such aselectronic cigarettes and “heat-not-burn” IQOS devices. ACE2 could be a novel adhesion molecule forSARS-CoV-2 causing Covid-19 and a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of fatal microbialinfections, and therefore it should be fast tracked and prioritized for research and investigation. Dataon smoking status should be collected on all identified cases of Covid-19.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Brake, SJ and Barnsley, KI and Lu, W and McAlinden, KD and Eapen, MS and Sohal, SS
Keywords:	ACE2 receptor, SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, smoking, COPD, electronic cigarettes, vaping, heat-not-burn, IQOS
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Clinical Medicine
Publisher:	MDPI AG
ISSN:	2077-0383
DOI / ID Number:	10.3390/jcm9030841
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Related URLs:	Google Scholar: Sohal, SS UTAS Profile: Sohal, SS
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