SMOKING BUGS: The thousands of chemicals might not be the only dangerous ingredients in cigarettes.
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Cigarettes contain hundreds of different strains of bacteria, including many human pathogens that may play a role in lung diseases and respiratory infections, new research shows.
Most health research has focused on the impact of chemicals in cigarettes and the particulates that are produced when tobacco is burned. But a new study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, paints the most complete picture to date of the bacteria in tobacco, suggesting that the germs could be another potential source of infection and disease.
The research--which shows that smokers are inhaling live bacteria--is the first time cigarettes have been implicated as a source of potentially pathogenic microbes.
"We thought it was a crazy idea to look at commercially available cigarettes to understand bacterial diversity," said Amy Sapkota, an epidemiologist at the University of Maryland, who led the research. "We were surprised to find that within a broad array of bacterial species that we found human pathogens were present as well."
Researchers are grappling with the public health implications of the findings.
Smoking cigarettes harms almost every organ system in the human body. The chemicals and heavy metals found in cigarettes--there are nearly 3,000 of them—and the particulates get most of the blame for the harmful effects of cigarettes, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, emerging research points to smoking as a risk factor for respiratory illnesses such as the common cold, influenza, asthma, bacterial pneumonia and interstitial lung disease.
The discovery of pathogens “makes this story very exciting because it's a new mechanistic explanation to help us understand the variety of different diseases from cigarette smoking," said John Pauly, a cancer research scientist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, who studies tobacco bacteria but was not involved in the new study.
With 1.2 billion smokers over the age of 15 worldwide, studying the bacterial diversity of tobacco is critical, according to scientists.
Bacteria have been known to be present in tobacco leaves, but only a few studies have looked into the contamination, and no research until now has attempted to catalog the bacteria diversity of cigarettes in order to investigate how these bugs may affect smokers or people exposed to second-hand smoke.
Sapkota became curious about bacteria living on tobacco while studying antibiotic-resistant genes in genetically modified tobacco plants. She was troubleshooting contamination problems when she realized the plants were full of bacteria. She remembers thinking that "if fresh tobacco leaves are loaded themselves, what is happening when the tobacco is harvested and produced to make cigarettes?"
The answer is that tobacco, too, was contaminated with bacteria.
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17 Comments
Add CommentJust another reason, or many reasons, not to smoke.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, let's stop calling these people "smokers."
"Smokers" is a smooth, easy word that covers the truth - nicotine addiction.
All smokers are simply nicotine addicts.
We call heroin addicts, heroin addicts, so lets call nicotine addicts what they are.
THis is probably true of pot, too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do the bacteria survive the tobacco being burned?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do the bacteria survive when the tobacco burns?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was also wondering how much of the bacteria would actually survive the fire and enter the body as living organisms.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscan i send this as my science and technology assignment in my teacher's email? thank you for the person who made this article. it was knowledgable than those of what i research previously.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthank you for this article, now i can tell my friends how harmful smoking really is.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFermentaion is great for bacteria and yeasts. I wonder how much is in your tea?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you keep your immune system built up with other bacterial laden herbs like, echinacea and goldenseal and numerous other beneficial bacterial laden herbs, doesn't your body fight the dangerous bacteria and viruses? It is common knowledge that the weaker your body, mind, and immune system, the more disease will infest you...stay strong, healthy and enjoy life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@CLR: The bacteria are in the unlit portion of the cigarette, opposite the lit portion. The smoker (nicotine addict) pulls the smoke from the lit end through the tabacco, then the filter, then into their lungs. The bacteria don't have to survive the burning portion to be transported into the body.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCRL > How do the bacteria survive when the tobacco burns?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou inhale bacteria from the entire cigarette, not just from the burning tip...
@Candide: You are right, these people are nicotine addicts. The problem with your analogy with heroin is that heroin is illegal. "Nicotine addicts" are perfectly law-abiding citizens who make a choice. Labeling them addicts is discriminatory, rude, and agenda-pushing. I personally do not smoke, nor will I ever, but at least I have a little bit of class when referring to other human beings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat's next? Calling coffee drinkers what they really are? Caffeine addicts? I call for calling caffeine addicts what they are, how about you Candide?
While I agree that cigarettes are bad for one's health, anyone who has taken a microbiology class knows that EVERYTHING, is teeming with millions of different microbes, including human pathogens.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUm... Bacteria are on tobacco? Bacteria are everywhere. You inhale millions -- if not billions -- of bacteria each day *without* smoking. This is sounding rather scare-tactic-y.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUm... Bacteria are on tobacco? Bacteria are everywhere. You inhale millions -- if not billions -- of bacteria each day *without* smoking. This is sounding rather scare-tactic-y.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCrap, no Delete option, huh?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho cares? There is bacteria on tobacco! Well, there is bacteria EVERYWHERE and on EVERYTHING. We breath it, we eat it, we sleep on it, we sit on it, should I go on... So a group of scientists (I'm certain working on a government grant) have determined there is bacteria on tobacco. Give me several million dollars and I'll confirm that there is bacteria on celery. So, smokers inhale bacteria.... Hmmm... So do aerobics instructors and vegetarians.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur species has survived from its origin to this day completely outnumbered and surrounded by bacteria.
Should we sterilize the planet?