Vaping-related illness claims a third life in the US, Indiana officials report
- Indiana health officials confirmed the death of one person from a mysterious lung illness on Friday, only specifying that they were over 18
- The unidentified individual had used e-cigarettes before their death
- Officials suspect that vaping may have triggered the deterioration of their lungs
- In the past two weeks, two people – in Illinois and Oregon – died of similar causes and was the first death suspected to be linked to vaping
- Thursday state health officials told the Washington Post that the FDA has warned cannabis-vaping-related deaths may be caused by a vitamin E-derived oil
- It’s unclear what any of the three left dead after vaping used in their e-cigarettes
One person has died of vaping related lung disease, Indiana health officials announced Friday.
No details have been released about this person and their death, beyond the fact that they were an adult over 18, and died of ‘severe lung injury linked to a history of e-cigarette use.’
This is the third death thought to have been caused by vaping. Oregon officials confirmed Wednesday that one adult died there in July, and another adult’s death was reported in Illinois the previous week.
More than 215 people have fallen ill in recent months, most of whom are teenagers and young adults.
On Thursday, state officials who were on an informational FDA call told the Washington Post that they identified a vitamin E oil-derivative in cannabis e-liquids that had been used by people with vaping-related lung illnesses.
It is unclear what any of the three people who have died were vaping.
Oregon health officials report that one person there died in July of lung illnesses suspected to be linked to vaping, marking the second death likely triggered by e-cigarettes in the US
‘We don’t yet know the exact cause of these illnesses – whether they’re caused by contaminants, ingredients in the liquid or something else, such as the device itself,’ said Dr Ann Thomas, public health physician at Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division.
The implication, however, is that health officials suspect something in e-cigarettes is causing sometimes deadly illness.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working with health departments in at least 25 states to determine how e-cigarettes are triggering these illnesses.
The Oregon patient had the same types of symptoms reported in 215 cases across the US.
In most, if not, all, of these cases, what begins as shortness of breath and chest pain progresses to coughing, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea, fever and weightloss.
Patients with the most severe cases wind up in the hospital with severely damaged lungs that often appear to be infected with pneumonia.
Sometimes they have to be placed on ventilators, in medically-induced comas, or worse, as appears to be the case for the Oregon person who died.
All of the 215 reported illnesses involved people who vaped.
But e-cigarette users reported vaping with a variety of devices and liquids.
According to the CDC, lung illnesses seem to have resulted from vaping both cannabis and nicotine of different flavors.
Some of the hospitalized patients reported using bootleg e-cigarette liquids that they purchased on the street, prompting the health agency to warn Americans against these products.
The CDC also advised that anyone who isn’t already a nicotine user to stop vaping – especially if they are young, pregnant or sick.