Arecent survey conducted by CSIR (Council of Scientific Industrial Research),Government of India, has revealed that smokers and vegetarians are less likelyto contract Covid-19 infection. The survey suggested smoking may be protective,despite Covid-19 being a respiratory disease, due to its role in increasing themucous production that may be acting as the first line of defence among thesmoking population. It indicated that vegetarian food rich in fibre may have arole to play in providing immunity against COVID-19 due to its anti-inflammatoryproperties by modification of gut microbiota.
Thepan India survey was conducted by an eminent team of 140 doctors and researchscientists to study the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virusthat causes Covid-19, and their neutralization capability to infer possiblerisk factors for infection. The study assessed 10,427 adult individuals workingin more than 40 CSIR laboratories and centers in urban and semi-urban settingsspread across and their family members. These people voluntarily participatedin the study.
Earlier,two studies from France and similar reports from Italy, New York, and Chinareported lower Covid infection rates among smokers. A study by America'sCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which examined over 7,000people who tested positive for COVID-19, also vindicated the above findings.Interestingly, the study found that only 1.3 per cent of survey participantswere smokers, compared to the CDC report that 14 per cent of all Americanssmoke.
Similarly,UCL (University College London) academics that looked at 28 papers across theUK, China, US, and France found the proportions of smokers among hospitalpatients were 'lower than expected. One of its studies showed that in the UKthe proportion of smokers among COVID-19 patients was just five per cent, athird of the national rate of 14.4 per cent. Another found in France the ratebeing four times lower (7.1 per cent vs 32 per cent among all population). InChina, a study noted that only 3.8 per cent of patients were smokers - despitemore than half of the population regularly smoking cigarettes.
Ina separate study by Jin-jin Zhang to understand the influence of smokingbehaviour on the susceptibility to Coronavirus observed that only 9 (6.4 percent) patients had a history of smoking, and 7 of them were past smokers. Thestudy found that smoking populations were less likely to be infected withSARS-CoV-2. These findings were also confirmed by a French study of publichealth data that showed people who smoke, were 80 per cent less likely to fallprey to COVID-19 than non-smokers of the same age and sex.
TheCouncil of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for itscutting-edge R&D knowledge base in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporaryR&D organization. Having a pan-India presence, CSIR has a dynamic networkof 40 national laboratories, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Complexes, and 5units. CSIR's R&D expertise and experience are embodied in about 4,600active scientists supported by about 8,000 scientific and technical personnel.
CSIRcovers a wide spectrum of science and technology - from radio and spacephysics, oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology,and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmentalengineering, and information technology. It provides significant technologicalintervention in many areas with regard to societal efforts which includeenvironment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farmsectors. Further, CSIR's role in S&T human resource development isnoteworthy.
CSIRis ranked at 84th among 4851 institutions worldwide and is the only Indianorganization among the top 100 global institutions, according to the ScimagoInstitutions Ranking World Report 2014. CSIR holds the 17th rank in Asia andleads the country at the first position.