Voss Hypnotics

       Hong Kong's Xinhua News Agency reported May 25th, 2009, that in view of the  A/H1N1 influenza (swine flu) outbreak, the Department of Health there is urging smokers to quit the habit.

      A Health spokesman called quitting smoking one of the best preventive measures against influenza.

    "Research studies show a higher risk of influenza infections among smokers when compared with non-smokers," he said.

    "Also, the mortality rate of influenza among smokers is higher than that of non-smokers," said the spokesman.

    Adopting healthy lifestyles and maintaining good personal hygiene are also effective measures to prevent influenza, he added.

   Evidence linking smoking to catching and/or having worse symptoms from the flu has been found in research around the world. In 1982 the New England Journal of Medicine published a study conducted among Israel soldiers. The study of 336 healthy young men found smoking increased risk of flu:  68.5 percent of the smokers got it, while only 47.2 percent of nonsmokers did.