Passive smoking: it would increase bacterial infections in the upper respiratory tract of children

Exposure to tobacco smoke appears to increase the bacterial carriage, including Streptococcus pneumoniae in the upper respiratory tract of children of smoking mothers but also suggests an Israeli study published in the journal "Clinical Infectious Diseases" (CID).

Studies have shown a link between exposure to tobacco smoke and certain respiratory infections in children, remember David Greenberg of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva and colleagues.

In a first study, colonization of Neisseria meningitidis was found higher in children exposed to cigarette smoke at home.

Israeli researchers looked in children exposed to smoking mothers, the presence of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, pathogenic bacteria most frequently involved in respiratory infections.

Porting these two bacteria was measured in 208 children aged one to five years, 93 of whom lived in a non-smoker and 115 families in a family where at least one parent smoked.

The results show that the rate of carriage of S. pneumoniae was significantly higher in children exposed to tobacco smoke than in unexposed children (76% vs. 60%).

The researchers note in particular that passive smoking is also associated with a greater carrying the seven serotypes of S. pneumoniae included in the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, with a rate of 49% against 30% of non-exposed children to smoke.

Similar results were observed in smoking mothers (32%) compared to non-smoking mothers exposed to the smoke of their spouse (15%) and non-smokers not exposed (12%).

In contrast, carriage rates of H. influenzae did not differ between children exposed to tobacco smoke and unexposed and between smokers and non-smoking mothers.

This study suggests that greater bacterial colonization of the upper respiratory tract in persons exposed to tobacco smoke could be the first step towards an increased risk of respiratory infections caused by S. risk pneumoniae, the researchers conclude.

In a statement to the magazine, they hope that these data will encourage parents to stop smoking, especially mothers.