Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - September 26, 2006
Eric Nagourney
The study, which appears in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, says it is not clear why smokers would be more likely to become infected with the virus, H.I.V., than nonsmokers.
But the authors pointed to growing evidence that smoking increases the risk of all types of infections, perhaps by changing the structure of the lung or weakening the immune system. They also noted that tobacco use tended to be higher among the groups of people most likely to get AIDS, like prostitutes.
AIDS and tobacco use, the study said, are the only two major causes of death that are on the rise, with tobacco projected to play a role in perhaps eight million deaths in a little over a decade.
The study was based on a broad review of earlier research that looked at the relationship between smoking and H.I.V. or AIDS. The authors, led by Dr. Andrew Furber, a British researcher, said they had found a "striking" consistency in the evidence that smokers were more likely to become infected. They did not, however, find strong evidence that smoking made AIDS worse.
"It may be the case," they wrote, "that smoking contributes little to the risk of developing AIDS. This may be because the immune mechanisms that smoking affects are less relevant in progression to AIDS than in acquiring the infection in the first place."
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