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Smoking leaves us more vulnerable to tuberculosis
Smokers among us should realise that if they are infected by the tubercle bacillus they run a greater risk of developing tuberculosis than do non-smokers. Which is hardly surprising. But an American research team has now produced figures to support this finding.
Professor Hsien-Ho Lin and his colleagues at the Harvard Medical School have in fact shown that the probability of a smoker infected by Koch’s bacillus developing the disease is double that of a non-smoker. A risk that applies equally to passive smoking.
Another interesting point is that pollution, and particularly that caused by burning fuel oil and wood, also exposes us to an additional risk. Although, according to the author of the report, “this relationship needs to be further studied in order to be totally sure”.
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9 article(s)
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