Monday, September 25 2006 15:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Smokers may be at a greater risk of HIV infection, a new study suggests.

Andrew Furber and colleagues at the South East Sheffield Primary Care Trust reviewed about 3,500 studies and said smokers were 60-300 percent more likely to acquire HIV as compared to non-smokers.

Although smoking tobacco did not appear to speed the progression of HIV to AIDS, the researchers said that the increased HIV risk could be because smokers were more likely to take sexual risks, reported the online edition of BBC News.

"We know tobacco can enter the bloodstream and affect the immune system." Furber said. He said studies had already shown that tobacco is linked to an increased risk in sexually transmitted infections, but his latest analysis reveals a link to HIV.

"More research clearly needs to be done in this area. As the tobacco market is squeezed in the developed world, the tobacco industry increasingly looks to Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.

"And these are the places where the HIV epidemic is at its greatest. So if there is this interaction, it is important to know about, because it could affect the way we run public health programmes in developing countries," said Furber.

Keith Alcorn, a senior editor at the National AIDS Map said: "Earlier this year, a large US study in HIV-positive women found that smokers had a 36 percent greater risk of developing an Aids-related illness over five years of follow-up, despite taking potent antiretroviral therapy.

"Anyone living with HIV would be strongly advised by their doctor to stop smoking because of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and the much greater risk of various smoking-related cancers for HIV-positive people, whether on treatment or not," he said.