Comment: The 'Covid surge' in India - like the rest of this nonsense - is probably mostly media hype. In the meantime, here's some real 'Covid news' out of India...
The pan-India serosurvey studied the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in people. One of the authors of the study said the paper was recently peer-reviewed.
While smokers and vegetarians had lower sero-positivity, those with blood group 'O' were found to be less vulnerable to the disease, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported, citing the study.
Comment: We're unsure what to make of this vegetarian signal in their data. India has the highest percentage of vegetarians in the world - by far - at up to 40%, while just 12% of its population smokes. Meanwhile, blood group O people, generally, function best on a high (animal) protein diet.
Similar Findings in Other Countries
Interestingly, the findings of the survey also corroborate observations made in countries including the United States with regard to the lower percentage of smokers being infected severely with the coronavirus.
The Indian survey was done by a team of 140 doctors and scientists and it reviewed more than 10,000 voluntarily participants. The most interesting finding was that though COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, smokers tend to be less affected by it. The inference made in the study is that smoking increases the mucous production, resulting in the creation of a certain resistance against the virus.
Comment: That's partly it. More specifically, smoking increases ACE-2 receptors in cells and has powerful anti-inflammatory effects on the body. The paradoxical thing is that SARS-CoV-2 enters via these same receptors, yet smokers are almost completely protected via this pathway. See here for more on this, one of the truly remarkable discoveries during this 'pandemic':
COVID-19, ACE2, Nicotinic Receptors And The Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory And Cognitive-Improving Pathway
"Smoking is known to be severely detrimental to health and associated with multiple diseases and this observation should not be taken to be an endorsement, especially given that the association is not proved to be causal," the study says. It, however, cautions people not to make assumptions but wait for further studies.
The study also says that vegetarian food, which is rich in fiber, also gives the body more immunity.
Comment: It may, so we won't dismiss that outright. Applying the study's own caution, however, note that vegetarianism may be correlated and not causal. Perhaps, just as there is likely a 'smoker genetic profile', there may be a corresponding 'vegetarian' one? Thus, for those who are naturally suited to vegetarianism, their bodies are optimally situated to handle SAR-CoV-2? That's likely the case for Blood Type Os, who are naturally suited to high meat diets, thus likewise optimally 'equipped'.
Diet, however, because of the global patchwork of cultural customs, and widely variable individual needs, is a trickier lifestyle behavior to pigeon-hole and thus purify signals from the noise. But smoking tobacco is a very specific form of 'medication'.
Regarding the blood groups, the survey says that while people with group 'O' are less vulnerable, those with 'B' and 'AB' are at a higher risk.
The report also cites earlier findings in France, Italy, China and the US regarding the connection between smoking and coronavirus infection. As per a study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 1.3 percent of survey participants were smokers while data showed that 14 percent of Americans were smokers.
Another academic paper that looked at various studies in UK, China, France and the US also found that the ratio of smokers among hospitalized patients was far lower than that of the general population. For example in the UK, the national rate of smoking is 14 percent but smokers constituted only five percent of the hospitalized patients.
In France, the percentage of smokers among Covid-related hospitalization was a lowly 7 percent while the national average of smokers was above 30 percent.
The study comes at a time when India is grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases and a shortage of hospital beds and oxygen.
Comment: By April 14th, when this 'Covid surge in India' made international headlines, more than 111 million people had been vaccinated in that country. So the vaccines aren't working, but smoking sure seems to.
For clarification, the smoking-Covid statistics listed for each country above are phenomenal. What it means is that SMOKING TOBACCO, not 'getting the jab', is the only real 'Covid-preventative medicine'.
As we've been pointing out for - ooh - 20 years now, the official message on smoking tobacco has covered up its health benefits. What's worse is that governments today are moving fast to ban smoking outright - just when it's finally getting the credit it deserves as arguably the most potent anti-viral 'on the market'...