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In recent weeks, the tone of the discussion about the health issues raised by vaping has gone from a silent concern to widespread panic at the national level. With hundreds of cases of mysterious vaping-related lung disease reported in more than 33 states and more than six reported vaping-related deaths in the United States, it is now impossible to ignore the potential health issues that may arise. vaporization. degree that even President Trump has declared a health crisis. Still, we do not have the answer to an extremely important question: what is actually causing these health problems related to vaping? Some theories have been advanced, including that vitamin E contained in THC bootleg cartridges may play a role, but a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine further illuminates some potential responses.
According to the study, which examined six spray-related cases at Salt Lake City University Hospital, diseases caused by vaporization could be linked to a certain type of white blood cell called macrophages, which help protect your immune system by essentially capturing potentially dangerous viruses. viruses and bacteria and digest them. In people with healthy immune systems, macrophages are able to distinguish between "good" and "bad" cells. in people with inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease, it is thought that the macrophages of the intestinal system are unable to make this distinction and end up attacking the wrong types of cells.
This is ultimately what the University of Utah researchers think about these vaping cases, with the exception of macrophages in the lungs. When the researchers examined samples taken from the patients' lungs, they discovered in their cells the presence of lipid-laden macrophages, or macrophages containing fat particles. Lipid-laden macrophages are extremely unusual and have a distinctive appearance, said Scott Aberegg, senior author and pulmonologist specialist in critical care at the U of U Health, in a press release.
In particular, the presence of lipid-laden macrophages in the lungs of a person is also used to diagnose lipoid pneumonia, a rare type of lung disease caused by inhalation of these fat particles. Lipoid pneumonia is characterized by symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough and chest pain, all of which have been reported by people presenting in hospitals with pulmonary conditions related to the inhalation of vapors. In an email to Rolling stone, Aberegg says that lipoid pneumonia usually results from accidental inhalation of fluid in the lungs, usually by taking oil-based laxatives. Usually, he says, X-rays are a "puddle" of liquid with an inflammation around. "If the pulmonary lesion associated with vaping we are observing is a new form of lipoid pneumonia (and that it looks more and more like that), it is different because the inflammation we observe in the lungs is not limited not to a specific area. "But it has spread into the lungs for a prolonged period," he says.
According to Aberegg, such a diagnosis "would correspond to the prevailing theory", shared by many health professionals, according to which lung conditions are related to the inhalation of vitamin E acetate, a substance that the it is found most often in skin creams and is now used by blacks. retailers as cutting agent for THC steam oil. And on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced at a press conference that most of the vape cartridges tested by the Department of Health were positive for vitamin E acetate and that three companies manufacturing diluents substance had been summoned to appear during his investigation.
That said, the FDA and the CDC have warned that it was too early in the investigation to draw conclusions about a single cause and that all the tested samples did not contain vitamin acetate. E. Aberegg also cautioned that his team had not analyzed the samples for the presence of vitamin E. In addition, although Aberegg reports that the majority of patients studied admitted to having used THC, the theory that these cases are limited to black market THC cartridges. Although his study is consistent with the theory of vitamin E, "it does not prove it," he says.
Thus, while this study is far from a miracle solution to identify the culprit, it confirms that it is better to consider the warnings of the FDA and CDC for now and just leave the cartridges for now .
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