Alcoholics have an abnormal CD8 T cell response to the influenza virus
Alcoholic patients have greatly increased risks of infection with extracellular bacteria, intracellular bacteria, and viruses. Numerous reports have documented that alcoholics exhibit higher rates of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, and peritonitis. Among the best-studied examples of this increased predilection to severe respiratory disease following chronic alcohol abuse are bacterial pneumonias. In fact, Benjamin Rush, the Surgeon General of the Continental Army and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as early as 1785 described alcoholics as susceptible to yellow fever, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. More recent studies have demonstrated that there is a two- to seven-fold greater incidence in mortality as well as increased morbidity in chronic alcohol-consuming individuals compared to non-alcoholic pneumonia patients."Gosh, almost all my favorite things in one article. Drunk Medical History.
"It has also been known since the 1800s that alcohol use disorders are associated with increased susceptibility to lung infection – both viral and bacterial, including community acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis – acute respiratory distress syndrome, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," added Ilhem Messaoudi, associate professor of biomedical sciences at University of California Riverside. "Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility to lung infection and injury in individuals with alcohol use disorder is extremely important. Although several studies have demonstrated that this phenomenon is in part due to significant perturbations in the immune system, our understanding of the impact of alcohol abuse on immunity remains incomplete."
