TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Some doctors participating in a COVID-19 seminar in Taipei on Sunday (Feb. 16) said that COVID-19 patients who are smokers have more severe symptoms than those who are non-smokers, CNA reported on Sunday (Feb. 16).
The Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan jointly held the clinical research seminar to discuss the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Mackay Memorial Hospital pediatrician Huang Tsung-ning (黃瑽寧) said during the seminar that the latest reports show that the chances of contracting the new virus for men and women are the same, and general symptoms for mild cases are sore muscles and coughing, which progress to fever and in some cases more sever symptoms, according to the CNA report. Huang added that some evidence indicates that it is easier for the new coronavirus to establish a foothold in the elderly, smokers, and sufferers of chronic disease.
Yang Kuang-yao (陽光耀), chief of the Department of Chest Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, disagreed, however, saying that gender and smoking play no role in the chance of getting infected, but that if smokers do contract the virus, their symptoms will be more severe.
