"There is evidence that they hurt," said an Argentine doctor after five deaths in the United States. using vapers

Argentinian experts have warned today that "vapers are not a fad because they are proven to hurt," US health officials said in the last few hours about the deaths of five people Respiratory disease "for the frequent use of electronic cigarettes."

Deaths have occurred in Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Oregon and Illinois, according to official US data. Michigan Governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, this week banned the sale of electronic cigarettes, making the state the first to sell these products.

"There is plenty of evidence that the e-cigarette is harmful to health and that it does not bring any benefit to industrial cigarettes," said Argentinian cardiologist Francisco Toscano Quilon at Telam.

Toscano Quilon, also a member of the Argentina Cardiological Foundation (FCA), announced that a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recently announced that she was putting on warning against a new respiratory pathology affecting young people and adults. young people, whose "single common feature was the frequent use of vapers, having ruled out any kind of infectious pathology".

This report indicated the existence of 193 reported cases of patients with "shortness of breath" and "chest pain" and indicated that many of them "required mechanical ventilatory support and hospitalization. extended ".

"Unfortunately, one of these patients died and it was reported that he had sprayed marijuana-based products," said the cardiologist, who however explained that "there is is not enough information to talk about an accurate diagnosis "but" there is suspicion that it could be so. lipoid pneumonia. "

"There is more doubt and it is our responsibility to inform the community, and especially young people, that the use of electronic cigarettes is not a cool fashion."

In this regard, an article published a few days ago in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that a group of researchers from the University of Utah Health has identified an unknown feature of the respiratory disease badociated with vaping.

The scientists said that patients with a type of respiratory disease and using electronic cigarettes had immune cells with small oily drops in the lungs called lipid-laden lipids.

Macrophages accumulate on infection sites and "these are cells that stand out very well and that we do not see often," said author of the study, Scott Aberegg. "This has led us to ask if they are there to eliminate the waste introduced into the lungs by vaping," he added.

Pulmonary scans of patients with vaping disease show what severe viral or bacterial pneumonia looks like, but tests to confirm these diseases have so far yielded negative results.

With respect to the dangers badociated with the use of electronic cigarettes, an editorial recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) warned of the direction that 's going on. they have towards "young and young adults", as well as "the use of aromas and flavors to make them more attractive".

In Argentina, although statistics are not available, the e-cigarette has been listed in the risk factor register and "it is known that its consumption is becoming more frequent because of a certain fashion and fake concept that it's healthy than an industrial cigarette, "Quilon said.

In addition, electronic cigarettes and related products have been banned by Anmat in the country since 2011.

"There is no doubt and it is our responsibility to alert the community, especially young people, that the use of the electronic cigarette is not a cool fashion, but on the contrary an element that causes proven damage at a time. " whoever uses it as for pbadive vapors, "said the cardiologist.

Several Ibero-Latin American pulmonary scientific societies, including the Argentine Association of Respiratory Medicine (AAMR), recently presented a paper that "no scientific badysis can prove to date that electronic devices releasing nicotine (DELN) are effective. " quit smoking. "(Telam)