LUNG ALERT
Smoking cessation may improve the microbial flora profile
Senior House Officer, The Royal London Hospital, UK; sjmehta@doctors.org.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Brook I, Gober AE. Effect of smoking cessation on the microbial flora. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2007;133:135–8.
The nasopharyngeal flora of smokers contains more potential pathogens and fewer bacteria with interfering capability than those of non-smokers. This paper studied the effect of smoking cessation on levels of these organisms. Two nasopharyngeal swabs were taken from 20 adults who had smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day for the previous 5 years. The first swab was taken while the patient was still smoking and the second 12–15 months after smoking cessation. None of the subjects had received antimicrobial treatment or had had a respiratory tract infection in the 3 months prior to testing.
Eleven potential pathogens were isolated from 9 of the 20 subjects before smoking cessation. Two potential pathogens were isolated from two individuals after smoking cessation (p<0.05). Bacterial interference was found in
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