---
title: "Experts: Vaping Could Make Coronavirus Infection More Severe"
description: "Scientists say it is reasonable to assume that smoking or vaping could make COVID-19 symptoms more severe once infected."
date: "2020-03-17"
modified: "2020-03-17"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/experts-vaping-could-make-coronavirus-infection-more-severe"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
  - "Viruses"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid-19"
  - "smoking"
  - "vaping"
---

# Experts: Vaping Could Make Coronavirus Infection More Severe

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/vaping-make-coronavirus-infection-more-severe.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Lee Phillips/Pexels\</em\>*

Scientists say it's reasonable to assume that smoking or vaping could make COVID-19 symptoms more severe once infected, [according to *Scientific American*](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smoking-or-vaping-may-increase-the-risk-of-a-severe-coronavirus-infection1/>).

To be clear, a direct link has yet to be investigated by researchers — but there's plenty of evidence that smoking or vaping [suppress](<https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajplung.00170.2016>) immune function in the lungs and trigger inflammation.

Scientists have also found that more severe COVID-19 cases were associated with chronic lung conditions — which in turn is linked to smokers and vapers as well. Some preliminary studies in China have found links between more severe COVID-19 cases and a history of smoking, but it's too early to draw conclusions as many of them still await peer review.

"All these things make me believe that we are going to have more severe cases—especially \[in\] people who are \[long-term\] smokers or vapers," said Melodi Pirzada, chief of pediatric pulmonology at NYU Winthrop Hospital on Long Island, to *Scientific American*.

"There’s a very coordinated series of events that take place when you do become infected with a virus," associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina Ray Pickles told *Scientific American*. "I think once you start perturbing this sequence of events in any which way or direction, that’s when things can go awry."

Scientists have found plenty of evidence for smoking being a risk factor for influenza. The link to vaping, however, is definitely less clear on the matter. Mice studies have found a link between e-cigarette aerosol lowering the chances of surviving influenza A, a common influenza virus.

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)