Shisha was recently singled out by Professor Raoult as being able to explain the increase in Covid-19 contaminations in young adults.

More generally, this form of smoking presents significant health risks, warns Jimmy Mohamed, the health consultant of Europe 1. 

Professor Didier Raoult estimated that the chicha, this water pipe used to smoke tobacco, could be an important factor in the contamination with Covid-19 in adolescents and young adults.

"If we do this thing in which there is saliva, including if we change the mouthpiece, it is an extraordinary experimental model for transmitting a respiratory disease", declares the director of the University Hospital Institute in infectious diseases of Marseille in a video posted on March 2.

In general, smoking shisha presents many health risks.

Doctor Jimmy Mohamed, health consultant for Europe 1, takes stock of this practice.

Why does shisha have a better reputation than cigarettes?

"Also called hookah, shisha is a water pipe that allows you to smoke tobacco. It is the third most widely used product behind roll-your-own tobacco and conventional cigarettes. The problem is that this mode of consumption rather user-friendly leaves the impression that it is safe to smoke and that hookah is healthier than a regular cigarette, which explains the growing increase in users, although this is obviously not true. 

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The WHO is clear on the subject: smoking shisha, like being exposed to passive cigarette smoke, and this carries the same risks of lung disease, cardiovascular disease or cancer as in conventional cigarette smokers.

In short: the smoke of shisha is as toxic as that of cigarettes.

See more. 

Why is shisha more toxic than cigarettes?

Just like all the fumes of substances that burn, those of shisha release during combustion about 4,000 chemicals that will be either toxic, irritating or carcinogenic.

And it has not escaped your notice that the duration of a hookah smoking session is much longer than for a single cigarette.

When you smoke a cigarette, it will be consumed in 8 to 12 puffs for a duration of about 5 minutes, while the hookah will be smoked in about fifty puffs, over a period which will range from 30 minutes to one o'clock. 

The shisha delivers the equivalent of 50 cigarettes in carbon monoxide.

And if we take the tar, it will deliver the equivalent of a hundred cigarettes.

Finally, there is twice as much nicotine in shisha tobacco than in traditional tobacco. 

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Find Jimmy Mohamed's column in replay and podcast here

Is Professor Raoult right to denounce the shisha as a vector of contamination?

Yes, because when you smoke shisha, you usually find yourself in an enclosed space, you don't wear a mask, physical distances are not respected, and you don't always use a small plastic mouthpiece to limit contamination.

So it is better to avoid shisha during Covid-19, and in general, shisha is like alcohol: consume in moderation! "