ABSTRACT
Abstract .................................................................................................................. 289 15.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 289 15.2 What Is Passive Smoking? ........................................................................... 290 15.3 Immune Function and Smoke ...................................................................... 290 15.4 Humoral Immune Function and Passive Smoking ...................................... 291 15.5 Cellular Immune Function and Passive Smoking........................................ 292 15.6 Phagocytes and Passive Smoking................................................................. 293 15.7 Natural Killer Activity and Passive Smoking .............................................. 293 15.8 Conclusions................................................................................................... 294 Acknowledgment ................................................................................................... 296 References.............................................................................................................. 296
Passive smoking is a major threat to public health in Europe and the U.S. Children are exposed to environmental smoke when they live with smoking parents. Environmental smoke causes irritation and/or inflammation of the respiratory mucosa and also seems to modulate humoral and cellular immune activity. The immune system is affected by passive smoke in many functions. The author considers the effects of passive smoking on humoral and cellular immune functions, phagocyte’s functions, and natural killer-cell activity. The observed reduction of natural killer-cell activity may be related to the increased incidence of lower respiratory tract illness and childhood cancer in infants from smoking mothers. Pregnant women and their relatives are to be encouraged to stop smoking as soon as pregnancy is diagnosed to avoid the consequences of smoke to newborns.
