1. AbstractA hookah (shisha, waterpipe) use may increase the risk of suffering from serious symptoms due to COVID-19. Like smoking, hookahs may exacerbate the risk for severe COVID-19 through shared use and being difficult-to-clean the long pipes and having a cold water reservoir. Social gatherings also provide an opportunity for the virus to spread. Among the hospitalized patients who were COVID-19 PCR test positive and/or had clinical/radiological findings, there was a family with four members and a friend of their 29 year old son.When the risk factors of transmission of the virus were examined, it was noticed that the young man and his friend used the same hookah within the last week. Due to the public health risks of COVID-19 transmission, several countries have already restricted hookah use. Based on the advice from the WHO, it is obvious to regulate the hookah use to prevent COVID-19 transmission through hookah smoking.
3. Hookah Use and COVID-19At the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus later named 2019-nCoV was identified as the cause of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. The infection rapidly spread throughout the world [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as an international public health emergency and characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 [2]. The disease has reached Turkey on 11 March 2020 and the first death occurred on 15 March 2020. It was confirmed that COVID-19 had spread all over Turkey by 1 April [3]. Tobacco use may increase the risk of suffering from serious symptoms due to COVID-19. Having a history of smoking may substantially increase the adverse health outcomes for COVID-19 patients like being admitted to intensive care or requiring mechanical ventilation [4] is a single or multistemmed instrument that is used for smoking many flavoured substances like cannabis, tobacco and opium. It is popular in India, the Arabian penisula, South Africa, Turkey, United States and Canada [5]. Like smoking, hookahs may exacerbate the risk for severe COVID-19 through shared use and being difficult-to-clean the long pipes and having a cold water reservoir [1]. Social gatherings also provide an opportunity for the virus to spread [4]. After our hospital was appointed as a pandemic hospital, the application with suspicion of COVID-19 increased. Patients who were COVID-19 PCR test positive and/or had clinical/radiological findings were hospitalized. Among them, there was a family with four members and a friend of their 29 year old son.When the risk factors of transmission of the virus were examined, it was noticed that the young man and his friend used the same hookah within the last week. Fortunately, all members of the family were treated and discharged. Due to the public health risks of COVID-19 transmission, several countries have already restricted hookah use. Based on the advice from the WHO, it is obvious to regulate the hookah use to prevent COVID-19 transmission through hookah smoking [4].
References1. Liu W, Tao Z-W, Lei W, et al. Analysis of factors associated with disease outcomes in hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus disease. Chin Med J. 2020, 5;133(9):1032-1038.
2. WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
3. Tobacco and waterpipe use increases the risk of COVID-19.2020.
4. Shekhar S, Hannah-Shmouni F, Hookah smoking and COVID-19: call for action, CMAJ April 27, 2020;192 (17): E462.
Nazife YAA .Hookah Use and COVID-19 . Annals of Clinical and Medical Case Reports 2020