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SMOKERS COULD LOWER their risk of severe illness from Covid-19 by quitting their habit.
“Active smoking increases your risk of respiratory tract infection,” says Professor Tom Wilkinson, NHS consultant physician and researcher at the University of Southampton.
Those with lung disease and certain medical conditions are at greater risk of severe sickness from the novel-coronavirus.
A study of 1,590 patients with Covid-19 in China found that this is true for patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
COPD is a disease that makes it hard to empty air out of your lungs. The airways get smaller, leading to airflow obstruction, according to COPD Support Ireland.
This can result in shortness of breath or tiredness. It affects around half a million people in Ireland, though fewer than half are diagnosed.
“It is associated with patients who are older, 60s and 70s typically,” says Professor Tim McDonnell, consultant respiratory physician at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin.
Patients can develop it over years and lots don’t realise.”
COPD patients in China were more likely to suffer more severe illness from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Patients with COPD who smoke can help themselves by quitting, now.
“Whatever stage you stop smoking, your disease outcome is better, and that is certainly true in the context of infectious disease,” says Wilkinson.
His studies show that certain COPD patients, though not all, are more susceptible to both bacterial and viral infections. One reason is that the lung defends itself by using a mucus escalator, which helps clear contaminants. This is damaged in many patients with COPD.
“COPD is a common condition in China due to the frequency of smoking and exposure to environmental pollution,” says Wilkinson, though it often goes unrecognised.
In some of the best health systems in the world, only a minority of COPD patients receive a formal diagnosis.
The professor suspects that the true toll of having COPD in this pandemic is underestimated.
Around 12,000 patients with worsening COPD are admitted to hospital each year, says McDonnell.
He tells his COPD patients that they should regard everyone they meet as potentially having the Covid-19 virus.
“Avoid social contact,” he advises.
He notes also that the Italian death rates seem to be higher than in China.
“One of the factors has perhaps been smoking, perhaps pollution in the Lombardy region too,” says McDonnell.
“About one in four Italians are over 65, so you are dealing with an elderly population, who probably have higher rates of smoking.”
Professor Wilkinson’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms which contribute to the vulnerability to and the impact of respiratory infections in patients with chronic lung disease.
“If you have a diagnosis of COPD and you are concerned about infection, then stopping smoking is a relevant lifestyle change, in the context of Covid-19 and more generally,” he advises.
Dr McDonnell agrees: “There is some evidence that patients who get Covid-19 and who are smokers do worse.”
The advice for vaping is evolving, Wilkinson adds, but his view: “If you have a choice between vaping and not vaping, it is better not to vape, because if you are inhaling anything which can irritate the lung, in the context of COPD and infection, that is only going to lead to a worse outcome.”
Ideally, patients would be better to try nicotine-replacement therapy.
Anthony King is a freelance science journalist in Dublin.
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Are they not going to print the names of the two new suspects as well?
@Brendan Hughes: As soon as the press knows the names will be printed.
@Brendan Hughes: Must admit, they were very quick to publish the name of the lorry driver – and erroneously publish that the victims were trafficked through Ireland
@Brendan Hughes: It wasn’t the police that named him. He was “named locally” to the press. Meaning someone in his town grassed him up.
@Bob Earner: U.K. police are well known for having an incestuous relationship with the press . They leak on most occasions .
@Isabel Oliveira: Except it was repeatedly stated that he was “named locally”, not an “unnamed source”.
@Bob Earner: Well then he was set up
@Gearóid: You’re entitled to your opinion. I’ll wait for the conclusion of the investigation.
@Brendan Hughes: They’ve been named in the UK press. Irish it seems
@JedBartlett: From what I’ve seen in the British press, they are from Warrington. I’ve checked many sources including the sun and the mail, and while they’re named, not one source I saw identifies them as Irish. It seems that their connection may also be tenuous as they claim to have sold the container a few years ago.
Plus, it appears that at least some of the victims are Vietnamese. So, so sad.
@Anne Marie Devlin: Check the Mail again. The article states that they are an Irish couple.
@JedBartlett: Yeah you’re going to have to link to that story, I still can’t find the claim they’re Irish.
@JedBartlett: It says in the same article:
“Mrs Maher and her husband Thomas, from Warrington”
and then later: “The Cheshire Police car was first seen at 7am this morning at the Irish couple’s home.”
Which is it?
@Bob Earner: The Daily Mail claims they are an irish married couple in their late 30′s…
@Lisa Bushell: I think she might be Irish but the wording makes it sound like he is English. At this point I don’t think the press know and are couching their language to make it appear ambiguous.
@Bob Earner: Both Irish
@Anne Marie Devlin: I wouldn’t believe the date in The Sun!
Media trying to sell papers aside, I find the whole subject of humans dying such an appalling death, all for profit and greed horrific. I hope that those who are high up on the chain of this ever increasing ‘business’ get their just desserts.
May those who died so tragically, Rest in Peace.
I find the whole story sketchy to say the least. I don’t buy it at all!
@Gearóid: I hope you don’t mind but I had a little peek at your Twitter, Gearoid. Am I right that you think there were no bodies found here and it’s some sort of false flag thing?
@Gearóid: why? What’s the motive in that case?
@The Bloody Nine: Yes, it certainly has that impression about it.
@Gearóid: it most definitely doesn’t have that impression about it but that’s your thing… they’re all false flags in your world.
@The Bloody Nine: Read this and tell me there’s no conspiracy! https://extra.ie/2019/10/25/news/irish-news/gtr-bodies-found-lorry-essex
@Gearóid: nothing in that suggests there were no bodies found. You also posted here that the driver was released without charge, you made that up, and now he’s been charged. Add to that the fact that you think all mass shootings in the US are false flags with crisis actors and I’m sure you can understand if I don’t take your word too seriously about anything.
@The Bloody Nine: There was an earlier report that he has released without charge! Are you trolling my Twitter page now?
The driver has been released from custody. He was being charged with murder yet these new “suspects” are being held for manslaughter…
@Gearóid: No he hasn’t been unless is happened in the last 20 mins.
@Gearóid: And he is being held on suspicion of murder. He hasn’t been charged. No one has.
@Gearóid: no driver still being held on suspicion of murder.
What I can’t believe is that none of these 39 victims have any identification at all.
@Gearóid: because traffickers tell them to destroy their papers
@Trish O Dea: yeah right!
@Gearóid: These trailers have tracking devices on them if they were tampered with the rental company would notify the authorities immediately. As it stands I can’t find any company in Dundalk with the name of GTR trailers. There is one in Dunlin however and they do not seem to be an active company.
@Trish O Dea: Precisely.
@Rosie: precisely what?
@Gearóid: Dublin*
@Gearóid: there are 3 GTR companies that i can see and thats just from typing it into google, all trailer rental companies. You online mastermind detectives would be better off going back to the Scooby Doo mysteries.
@Gearóid: Poirot in a tin foil hat
@Gearóid: oh give it up you’re sounding ridiculous.
@Gearóid: https://gtreurope.com/privacy-policy/
@Gearóid: Why? Just why Gearòid? If you think you’re going to crack the case and convince everyone that this is some government conspiracy to push Brexit or something and you have the proof I would think it highly unlikely to say the least.
@Gearóid: If they have National ID they can be deported to their home country, if they don’t, it’s very difficult to deport.
@Mick Murphy: That’s exactly whay it looks like! Go and put your heads back in the sand now.
@Doire: all fake companies
@Mick Murphy: Go and look for GTR Trailer Rentals and tell me if that’s a real company.
@Gearóid: done. They are real. In fact they have made a statement acknowledging ownership of the container relating their shock and disappointment at the whole thing. Do you not think it more likely that occums razor applies and it is human trafficking gone wrong. Things are actually usually exactly what they appear to be. It’s an awful tragedy and you take from the solemnity of it while minimizing the criminals responsibility when you make assertions like you are. Rather than this being a government trying to deflect you are doing exactly that and I can’t understand why
@Mick Murphy: Where is the statement? Post the link here
@LittleBee: That’s a fake website
@Mick Murphy: That is absolutely meaningless. The company doesn’t exist at all. Whoever made that statement has nothing to do with a haulage firm. And some real reporters have investigated them.
https://extra.ie/2019/10/25/news/irish-news/gtr-bodies-found-lorry-essex
@LittleBee: Fake website
Names are available online media news outlets
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