Byline: Gabriela. Alberca, Ricardo. Alberca
Sir,
We read with great interest the article entitled 'E-cigarettes: A novel therapy or a looming catastrophe' by Hussain et al . that was published in Annals of Thoracic Medicine .[1] The manuscript highlights the impact of e-cigarettes on the respiratory and cardiovascular system in active and passive smokers and their impact on young adults. Nevertheless, due to the current coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic situation, we would like to raise some questions.
COVID-19 systemic and respiratory disease is generated by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 that infects cells via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. It is clear that tobacco smoking is a risk factor for severe COVID-19,[2] but the exact mechanism is not clear. Some shreds of evidence support that smoking increases the expression of the ACE2 receptor in the lungs[3] and also increases the systemic...