French researchers to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients

Guardian ^ | 4/22/20 | Kim Willsher

[Meatspace]

French researchers are planning to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients and frontline health workers after a study suggested smokers may be much less at risk of contracting the virus.

The study at a major Paris hospital suggests a substance in tobacco – possibly nicotine – may be stopping patients who smoke from catching Covid-19. Clinical trials of nicotine patches are awaiting the approval of the country’s health authorities.

[corkoman]

Really??! That’s going to be awkward to include in the daily press briefing “Light up grandpa”.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Well, I’ll be! And everyone said cigarettes are bad for you...

I’m gonna fire up a Marlboro and help fight off the virus. ;)

[\/\/ayne]

Why not just shock them with some electricy and see what happens?

[PA Engineer]

Thanks. I knew this was coming. There was a fog of war originally. The first reports from people with axes to grind were smokers are the susceptible to bad outcomes and infection. I suppose the saying about hammers is true.

When real scientists looked at the data they found an odd paradox. Smokers made up the smallest percentage (<1.5%) of hospitalized patients. It may be part of the paradox of those with greater ACE2 expression in the lungs had the least complications. Further, hand to mouth would seem to be a risk factor for fomites infection.

I discussed this with our research group during a zoom meeting this last week. We joked they will be doing nicotine patches next. We were only joking. I guess that was on us.

[pepsi_junkie]

I so want this to work because back in Feb I joked that they’ll probably find out nicotine cures coronavirus and the left will lose their minds. Nate Silver proved that one right prediction can be turned into a lucrative career of making bad predictions and I want that.

[Magic Fingers]

That’s going to be awkward to include in the daily press briefing “Light up grandpa”.

---

Especially if they say it that way instead of “Light up, grandpa”.

[heartwood]

Perhaps it is simply that smokers are less likely to be overweight?

[mvonfr]

I’m gonna fire up a Marlboro and help fight off the virus. ;)

Very unlikely it would do you any good. You need to do this for a while..... months, maybe years: basically build up immune system to fight constant low-level inflammation in the respiratory system.

I'd suspect that nicotine has nothing to do with this... nicotine-free sigs would work just as well.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk

[tm61]

Ok
Woody Allen in “Sleepers” was right

[mvonfr]

Perhaps it is simply that smokers are less likely to be overweight?

Could be part of the picture, but only a minor one.

In Wuhan, not too many overweight people... not enough to explain why smokers seems to have about 5x better chances with the virus.

[Fury]

Re: 5 - Hmmm.

From https://covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov

This caught my eye:

Considerations for Certain Concomitant Medications in Patients with COVID-19 Summary Recommendations

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs):

Persons with COVID-19 who are prescribed ACE inhibitors or ARBs for cardiovascular disease (or other indications) should continue these medications (AIII).

The COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) recommends against the use of ACE inhibitors or ARBs for the treatment of COVID-19 (emphasis added) outside of the setting of a clinical trial (AIII).

What exactly are they saying? Are they saying that ACE inhibitors or ARBs are being used by some doctors for treatment of COVID-19? Wasn't the thought that ACE inhibitors could be a potential liability if infected with COVID-19?

[BBQToadRibs]

Watch a cigar and tumbler of whisky is all it takes to avoid the virus.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

All things are observed through a prism. The medical community looks to tobacco and therefore nicotine as evil with zero benefit. It takes guts to peak around your prism.

[dangus]

>> The study at a major Paris hospital suggests a substance in tobacco – possibly nicotine – may be stopping patients who smoke from catching Covid-19. <<

Wait... we were told from the Asian results that the reason the victims were heavily disproportionately male was that they smoked!

[brianr10]

I take lovenox for hbp, which is a ACE inhibitor. I haven’t caught the ‘rona yet!

[dangus]

>> Watch a cigar and tumbler of whisky is all it takes to avoid the virus. <<

Gin and tonic. Real, old-fashioned tonic water is the malaria medicine they keep referring to. (Not the wimpy stuff they started to manufacture after they realized that quinine has some serious side-effects.)

[Bayard]

So far I’ve heard that basically everything stops the Coronavirus. Sex stops Coronavirus, Smoking stops Coronavirus, dog heartworm treatment stops coronavirus.

[Calvin Locke]

While nicotine’s a decent poison, I was perhaps thinking that it’s all the other crap in a smoker’s lungs that make it inhospitable for the virus to survive for infection.