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Scientists found that viral infections have more severe consequences in individuals exposed to cigarette smoke than in those not exposed to it. This study was conducted by researchers at Yale School of Medicine.

Also they identified the mechanism by which viruses and cigarette smoke interact to increase lung inflammation and damage. Their experiments showed that the immune systems of mice exposed to cigarette smoke from as little as two cigarettes a day for two weeks overreacted when they were also exposed to a mimic of the flu virus. The mice's immune systems cleared the virus normally but the exaggerated inflammation caused increased levels of tissue damage.

"The anti-viral responses in the cigarette smoke exposed mice were not only not defective, but were hyperactive," said Jack A. Elias, Professor of Medicine and chair of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Elias added that smokers do not get in trouble because they can't clear or fight off the virus, but they get in trouble because they overreact to it. Elias and his colleagues also found that mice with viral infections that had been exposed to cigarette smoke had accelerated emphysema and airway scarring.

After this research Elias want to verify in human body not mice. And the new study will be in this way the first explanation for why viral infections are more serious in smokers. "Once verified, we can find ways to prevent the destruction of lung tissue and the higher illness and death among smokers," he added.

These studies have identified molecular pathways that can explain how cigarette smoke exposure and viral infections interact to make breathing problems worse in diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These findings may even lead to more effective drug treatments for this disease.