Yet Another Reason to Put That Cigarette Down
Yet Another Reason to Put That Cigarette Down
March 8, 2000 (Cleveland) -- Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for cancer and heart disease, and a new study from the CDC reports that cigarettes are also the No. 1 cause of an infection that can cause severe pneumonia or meningitis.
Cigarettes, the CDC researchers say, increase the risk of this infection by four times for smokers and more than double the risk to nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. The study is reported in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Pneumococcal infections are caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. They are the leading cause of pneumonia in the U.S.
"The more the person smokes, the greater the risk, both in terms of cigarettes per day and years smoking," says researcher Anne Schuchat, MD, chief of the CDC's Respiratory Disease Branch. The risk remains high for 10 years after a person quits, then drops to the risk of nonsmokers, she says. This is good news because it means "this is not a permanent effect of smoking," she says.
The CDC estimates that if "the number of people who smoke [were reduced] by just 10%, we could prevent about 4,000 cases of invasive pneumococcal infections -- pneumonia, bacteremia [infection in the blood], or meningitis -- each year," Schuchat says.
Those are big numbers, says Ron Davis, MD, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. This is a very important study," says Davis, who reviewed it for WebMD. "Pneumococcal infection is an important condition in the U.S., and pneumonia, [together] with influenza, is the sixth leading cause of death in our society."
"We can now add yet another important disease to the list of diseases caused by cigarette smoking," says Davis, a former director of the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.
Pediatric infectious disease expert Blaise Congeni, MD, director of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Akron, Ohio, tells WebMD that pediatricians have long known that children who live with smokers get more ear infections, upper-respiratory infections, and pneumonia. The new study adds scientific clout to that observation, he says, adding that the study's findings are particularly worrisome because these infections are becoming resistant to treatment with antibiotics.
Yet Another Reason to Put That Cigarette Down
March 8, 2000 (Cleveland) -- Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for cancer and heart disease, and a new study from the CDC reports that cigarettes are also the No. 1 cause of an infection that can cause severe pneumonia or meningitis.
Cigarettes, the CDC researchers say, increase the risk of this infection by four times for smokers and more than double the risk to nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. The study is reported in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Pneumococcal infections are caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. They are the leading cause of pneumonia in the U.S.
"The more the person smokes, the greater the risk, both in terms of cigarettes per day and years smoking," says researcher Anne Schuchat, MD, chief of the CDC's Respiratory Disease Branch. The risk remains high for 10 years after a person quits, then drops to the risk of nonsmokers, she says. This is good news because it means "this is not a permanent effect of smoking," she says.
The CDC estimates that if "the number of people who smoke [were reduced] by just 10%, we could prevent about 4,000 cases of invasive pneumococcal infections -- pneumonia, bacteremia [infection in the blood], or meningitis -- each year," Schuchat says.
Those are big numbers, says Ron Davis, MD, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. This is a very important study," says Davis, who reviewed it for WebMD. "Pneumococcal infection is an important condition in the U.S., and pneumonia, [together] with influenza, is the sixth leading cause of death in our society."
"We can now add yet another important disease to the list of diseases caused by cigarette smoking," says Davis, a former director of the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.
Pediatric infectious disease expert Blaise Congeni, MD, director of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Akron, Ohio, tells WebMD that pediatricians have long known that children who live with smokers get more ear infections, upper-respiratory infections, and pneumonia. The new study adds scientific clout to that observation, he says, adding that the study's findings are particularly worrisome because these infections are becoming resistant to treatment with antibiotics.
