France Is Testing If Nicotine Can Protect People From Contracting Coronavirus

France is going to test if nicotine can protect people from contracting coronavirus after a new research claimed that the substance could be useful to contain the virus.

The findings come after researchers at a top Paris hospital examined 343 coronavirus patients along with 139 people infected with the illness with milder symptoms.

They found that a low number of patients that have contracted the virus smoked, compared to smoking rates of around 35 percent in France¡¯s general population.

¡°Among these patients, only five percent were smokers,¡± Zahir Amoura, who is the study¡¯s co-author and a professor of internal medicine, told AFP.

However, the researchers insisted they were not encouraging the population to take up smoking, which carries other potentially fatal health risks.

Representational Image/AFP

The research echoed similar findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month that suggested that 12.6 percent of 1,000 people infected in China were smokers. That was a much lower figure than the number of regular smokers in China¡¯s general population, about 26%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The researchers are awaiting approval from health authorities in France to carry out further clinical trials.

They plan to use nicotine patches on health workers at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris - where the initial research was conducted - to see if it protects them against contracting the virus.

AP

The experts though have warned that those who do not smoke should absolutely not use nicotine substitutes, which causes side effects and addiction.

Tobacco is the number one killer in France, with an estimated 75,000 deaths per year linked to smoking.

France is one of the hardest hit countries by the coronavirus in Europe, with more than 21,000 deaths and over 155,000 reported infections.