By Chioma Obinna

As the world yesterday marked this year’s World No Tobacco Day, researchers have found that cigarette smoke and its components infiltrate bacteria in the body and reduce the immunity. This is coming as the World Health Organisation, WHO, said moves to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products can save lives by reducing demand for tobacco products.

The researchers from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry researchers led by David A. Scott, found that Cigarette smoke and its components promote biofilm formation by several pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, report scientists.

In the findings released on this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the researchers, who explored how cigarettes lead to infiltration of bacteria in the body said the mouth is the dirtiest parts of the body and smoking makes it worse. According to them, puffing cigarettes can increase the likelihood that certain bacteria like Porphyromonas gingivalis will not only set up camp but will build a fortified city in the mouth and fight against the immune system.

Scott and his team identified how tobacco smoke, composed of thousands of chemical components, stating that tobacco smoke is an environmental stressor and promotes bacteria colonization and immune invasion.

Scott explained that Biofilms are composed of numerous microbial communities often made up of complex, interacting and co-existing multi-species structures. Bacteria can form biofilms on most surfaces including teeth, heart valves and the respiratory tract.

In a related development, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has said that the moves to introduce plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products can save lives by reducing demand for tobacco products. In a statement to mark this year’s World no Tobacco Day, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan explained tha