Serious pulmonary disease linked to vaping confuses experts



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On Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that their organization was investigating an upsurge in cases of serious pulmonary diseases related to vaping.

Although the agency says more information is needed to determine the cause, the use of the electronic cigarette is a common denominator in all cases.

"There is no conclusive evidence that an infectious disease is causing the disease," the CDC said in a press release.

From June 28 to August 15 this summer, 94 possible cases have been reported in 14 states, such as Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Indiana, and Minnesota.

Patients with the disease suffer from coughing, fatigue, chest pain, weight loss and shortness of breath, which worsen over time. Some needed fans to breathe.

According to an NPR report, a Wisconsin man, Dylan Nelson, was admitted to an intensive care unit in July because of breathing difficulties after buying cheap THC oil from a friend. Nelson, 26, told NPR that he did not remember much about his hospitalization. He just woke up in the hospital.

"It was very uncomfortable, every time I coughed with the tube in my mouth, liquid came out of my lungs in the tube and I had to suck the hose," he said.

Nelson said the oil he was vaping was "diluted".

"And it was pee color, it was not supposed to be that color, it's supposed to be dark orange," he said.

Wisconsin accounts for 30 of the 94 reported cases. In Wisconsin, the common thread of vaping was not obvious.

"As the clinical team sought to better understand what could be causing this, it became clear that the previous factor was that patients were running out of steam," said Dr. Michael Gutzeit, MD Chief of Wisconsin Children's Hospital in Wisconsin. Milwaukee, explained NPR.

According to health officials in Wisconsin, the vapors produced by the victims include a number of different substances, including nicotine, THC and synthetic cannabinoids; specific products have not been officially linked to the disease.

In an e-mailed statement, Juul Labs – the largest US manufacturer of e-cigs – said he was watching reports. "Like any health-related event that would be associated with the use of steam-based products, we are monitoring this information," Juul Labs said in a statement sent by email to Reuters.

"These reports reaffirm the need to keep all tobacco and nicotine products out of the reach of young people through important regulations on access and enforcement," the statement said. "We must also ensure that illegal products, such as counterfeiters, imitators and those who deliver controlled substances, stay out of the market and young people [sic]. "

Like the Salon.com report last year, the lack of regulation for e-cigarettes means that no one really knows if you can inhale the added chemicals to season tobacco. Some common vapourising flavoring chemicals, including diacetyl, have been well documented as causes of chronic lung disease. In 2015, researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that 75% of flavored electronic cigarettes and refill liquids tested were diacetyl.

In addition to a serious lung disease, the US Food and Drug Administration is also investigating cases of seizures among consumers of electronic cigarettes. In April, the FDA said that there had recently been a slight rise in the number of "reports of adverse experiences with tobacco products reporting seizures related to the use of cigarettes." electronics (for example, vaping), signaling a potentially emerging safety problem.

Some municipalities, such as San Francisco, have already started to take control by banning e-cigarettes.

There does not seem to be a common age for the victims of vaping-related lung disease. In Wisconsin, health officials first reported seeing cases in adolescents and young adults. However, some new cases among older age groups have now emerged.

Notably, nicotine consumption among adolescents in the United States had been virtually eliminated before the onset of e-cigarettes. Between 1997 and 2015, the smoking rate in high school in the United States decreased by 70%, the result of nearly two decades of public health initiatives, triggered by the alarm after a increase in teen smoking in the 1990s. The downward trend has led some to predict that teen smoking could be entirely eliminated by: 2035. But according to the FDA, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students have been smoking electronic cigarettes over the past month. when students were interviewed in 2018.

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