Dr. Maryam Emadzade, Assistant Professor, Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Hello and happy New Year. I would like to talk about cigarette and corona virus in a few minutes.

We all know the world has been infected by Covid-19 or corona disease nowadays, and all countries have been affected more and less by corona virus which causes so many problems for us and influences on different aspects of our lives. But on the other hand, it has made so many health opportunities for us, for example, we have been recommended to wash our hands before eating and going to bath for years, however, nobody said how we should wash them; thanks to corona virus, recently, everybody knows the way of washing hands effectively.

Also, we paid no attention to contaminated surfaces of cell phones, elevators, keyboards and etc. Due to corona virus, we have paid more attention to them and try to touch them indirectly either by a napkin or cloth; or disinfect them using antiseptic solutions, and reduce or eliminate the contamination of these surfaces.

I would like to tell you here that we can use this opportunity in some other ways. Let's think of smoking and importance of quitting cigarettes.

All of you know that covid-19 affects respiratory system. I would like to explain simply the breathing process which starts from the nose as the main air entrance, and ends to lungs within the chest, where the air is received through oxygenation mechanisms and delivered to blood; CO2 as a waste product of tissue metabolism is extracted from blood and delivered to the air exhaled. So, when lungs have been infected by virus, the oxygenation is involved. This is what cigarettes do with our body.

When I talk about cigarettes, I mean not only cigarettes but also any kind of smoking such as tobacco, cigarette, pip, hookah and etc. which will target respiratory system, reduce lung capacity, and affect proper function of lungs. As you have seen around, the longer smokers use cigarettes, gradually the more they suffering from wheezing and shortness of breath during the time. They show the same picture of pulmonary system involvement as of that corona virus disease.

In addition, cigarette and smoking as general affect the immune system as well. In these days, we all think of strengthening our immune system, it is a good idea to think of quitting cigarettes or reducing it. But, there is a misconception surrounded the hookah that said it is not harmful as cigarette, this is totally wrong; according to the research, the hookah is like cigarette more or less and it is harmful as cigarettes. Hookah is also like cigarettes, and smoking in general affects pulmonary system. It can reduce the lung capacity and disrupt the lung function.

Common use of hookah and pips, causes the virus transmission through saliva. The other misconception about hookah is also common among some people. They believe that the harmful substances of Hookah are filtered due to passing the water, because tobacco is placed on the surface of water, so the users are protected from the harmful substances. It is wrong, because the water used in hookah can cause virus transmission. If a carrier uses a hookah, this virus could stay in it and then the next user will be infected.

To summarize, it is preferred to use this chance provided by corona virus and consider it as a health opportunity to think of reduce and quit smoking either cigarette or hookah