Cigarettes Can Promote Infections

You can add another danger to the already-massive list associated with smoking. Researchers have recently determined that a large number of bacterial species can be found inside each and every “death stick,” including some of the germs that have long since been associated with a host of human illnesses. All of these germs can literally combine in various ways inside smokers' bodies, producing unknown strains, and generally making these people sick, Wired reports.

“Nearly every paper that you pick up discussing the health effects of cigarettes starts out with something to the effect that smokers and people exposed to secondhand smoke experience high rates of respiratory infections. But nobody talks about cigarettes as a source of those infections,” University of Maryland in College Park scientist Amy Sapkota explains. According to previous studies, it may very well be that smoking promotes lung impairment, as well as gaps in the smokers' immune systems. The new data collected by Sapkota seems to confirm the old studies, and adds that this is entirely possible.

What the new research has not confirmed yet is whether the microorganisms are alive or not. This would make all the difference in the world, because it would imply that simply handling cigarettes, or putting an unlit one in your mouth – which many children imitating their parents do – could be enough to trigger an infection. The UM researcher says that one of the flaws of previous investigations into this matter was the fact that the experts carrying them out only screened tobacco and cigarettes for specific bacterial species, rather than doing a full sweep. Still, even so, other studies have proven that bacteria isolated from cigarettes can be grown in the lab, in a petri dish culture.

In an upcoming research, Sapkota plans to conduct an accurate survey of which types of tobacco are the most likely to carry and host viable germs. She and her team will also attempt to identify the way these bacteria enter the body, either through the smoke, or by chewing and second-hand smoke, and more accurately determine the infection risks people willingly expose themselves to. In the UM work, the team there established that as many as 1,000 species of bacteria could be hitching rides on tobacco products.