Smoker especially threatened by flu

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO): People with respiratory diseases such as chronic smoker bronchitis (COPD) and asthma should have a flu vaccine once a year. Those at risk are at increased risk for serious health complications.

According to the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO), asthma sufferers, respiratory patients and smokers with chronic bronchitis should take flu shots a year. All three groups of patients have a weakened immune system and are therefore exposed to special risks. „Smokers appear to have an uncontrolled, exaggerated immune response to the defense of influenza viruses“, the lung specialist Dr. Bernd Schönhofer from the Oststadtkrankenhaus in Hanover. In smokers derailed in the defense of the virus, the immune system, "which increases the risk of serious complications such as pulmonary or pericarditis and thus a fatal course." warns Bernd Schönhofer.

Even longtime passionate smokers who have not yet had chronic bronchitis, vaccination is recommended. "We lung doctors also advise long-term, not yet chronically ill smokers urgently to a flu vaccine," said Schönhofer. Because smokers are often prone to colds with repeated bronchitis. The lungs, according to the specialist, already have recurrent inflammatory foci. In Germany about one third of adults smoke. Through numerous campaigns, the rate has fallen for some years, especially among young people.

Every year millions of people in Germany become ill with influenza, and this can be serious health consequences for certain risk groups such as people with weakened immune systems, chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Estimates by the Working Group on Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute assume that around 2.9 million additional visits to the doctor and 5,300 influenza-related hospital admissions occurred during the previous flu season 2009/2010. Naturopathy points to numerous possibilities to prepare effectively for so-called autumn diseases and to strengthen the immune defense. (sb, 17.10.2010)

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