The recent emergence of COVID‐19 has resulted in a worldwide crisis, with large populations locked down and transportation links severed. While approximately 80% of infected individuals have minimal symptoms, around 15–20% need to be hospitalized,...
The recent emergence of COVID‐19 has resulted in a worldwide crisis, with large populations locked down and transportation links severed. While approximately 80% of infected individuals have minimal symptoms, around 15–20% need to be hospitalized, greatly stressing global healthcare systems. As of March 10, the death rate appears to be about 3.4%, although this number is highly stratified among different populations. Here, we focus on those individuals who have been exposed to nicotine prior to their exposure to the virus. We predict that these individuals are ‘primed’ to be at higher risk because nicotine can directly impact the putative receptor for the virus (ACE2) and lead to deleterious signaling in lung epithelial cells.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), an infectious respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), originated in Wuhan in China in December 2019. Within months, the disease had spread globally leading to a worldwide pandemic with devastating consequences for communities and public healthcare services. The degree of severity associated with the disease varies widely among different populations. Here, James Olds and Nadine Kabbini discuss the role of smoking as a primary risk factor for severe infection. Drawing on the conclusions of studies of an earlier outbreak (SARS) and analysis of recent data on COVID‐19, the authors propose that some high‐risk individuals are ‘primed’ because of exposure to nicotine, which can directly impact the putative receptor for the virus (ACE2) in lung epithelial cells.