iStockphoto / Oxana Medvedeva
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a recent rash of Americans around the country suffering from mysterious ailments that have been associated with vaping.
Between June 28 to August 15, there have been 94 cases of severe lung illness linked to vaping in 14 different states according to the CDC. There have been 30 cases from Wisconsin, 15 of those who were affected were 16 to 34 years of age. There were 12 unexplained cases in Illinois. Other states with the reported mystery illness include New York, California, Indiana, Minnesota and Utah.
All the people who have been affected reportedly used e-cigarettes in the weeks or months before they were forced to go to the hospital for treatment. The patients have been diagnosed with severe lung damage. Physicians could not specifically pinpoint the reason for their respiratory or pulmonary illness.
The CDC found that all of the patients who were recently hospitalized were using e-cigarettes and their symptoms seem similar such as shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, cough, and weight loss.
Some of those affected vaped products with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) by vaping marijuana oils, extracts or concentrates. The CDC did not specify if the vaping devices or the ingredients inhaled were the cause of the illnesses.
One 26-year-old man from Wisconsin was rushed to the hospital in July after experiencing difficulty breathing after vaping THC oil that he purchased on the street. He was put in intensive care and then was placed in a medically induced coma after his blood-oxygen levels dropped to just 10%.
The CDC is advising health care providers to monitor this sudden rash of illnesses and to report any unexplained pulmonary illnesses in patients who vape.
The CDC has called vaping “unsafe for kids, teens, and young adults” because most contain nicotine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added that e-cigs “can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s.”
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