Smoking is an extremely harmful habit for people infected with HIV / AIDS, since exposure to the chemicals contained in cigarettes can significantly reduce the patient’s life expectancy, warned today the specialist Ernesto Eduardo Echagaray Guerrero.
“Smoking affects the health of the population in general, however, in people who have HIV / AIDS can accelerate degenerative processes that lead to rapid death,” said the chief of Infectious Diseases Hospital of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in Jalisco.
The specialist explained that this happens due to the low immunological response of the organism after being infected with the virus.
He explained that the sooner the habit of smoking is stopped and routines are adopted where there is exercise and a healthy diet, rich in proteins and low in carbohydrates, the person will have a longer life expectancy.
“Because HIV is adding age, you do not have the same answer in a 20-year-old as in a person of 50 or 70,” he added.
He pointed out that even in poor conditions, a person in the 20s will recover his immunological capacity relatively soon if he improves his habits, but the same will not happen with an older adult.
“Immunity of 750 cd4 (cells of the immune system) is considered normal, it is the defenses, suppose that when the patient arrives, usually already with symptoms, he has 250 cd4: to normalize that number maybe 10 years or so will have to pass. never happen again, “said Echagaray Guerrero.
The expert in infectious diseases insisted on living a healthy life, whether or not you have HIV / AIDS, since with the medical treatments offered today, patients can live up to an average of 80 years of age, that is, the same as a person without the disease.
