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As if there aren’t enough warnings about the dangers of vaping, now comes a new study that says a majority of the mouthpieces of e-cigarettes used by daily vapers are “abundantly colonized” with fungi. So, in addition to the potentially toxic chemicals that are being sucked into a vape user’s lungs, there could be all sorts of nasty microbes being inhaled into them as well.
According to the researchers from the University of Florida, whose study was published recently on the pre-print server bioRxiv, “Research on the health impacts of e-cigarettes has focused on non-infectious manifestations. Given their enclosed plastic design and temperature fluctuations, we hypothesized that e-cigarettes are colonized by pathogenic microbes, thereby contributing to lung disease in users. Using sequencing and culture techniques of the devices and mouthwash of 25 users, we found only a small subset of mouthpieces to contain bacteria, whereas most were abundantly colonized with fungi that were distinct from the oral mycobiota, including the genera Rhodotorula, Aureobasidium, Cystobasidium, and Meyerozyma.
“Chronic exposure to the most frequently isolated pathogen, Cystobasidium minutum, resulted in mucus hypersecretion and obstructive lung disease in mice, characteristics of chronic bronchitis. We conclude that e-cigarettes are frequently colonized with fungal organisms capable of causing lung disease.”
What does that all mean?
Well, the researchers used some mice and had them inhale Cystobasidium minutum, the most common species of fungi that was found on the vape pen mouthpieces. The result?
“We found that the fungus that was most prevalent in the vape samples caused features of chronic bronchitis in mice,” Dr. Borna Mehrad, the Vice Chair of Research in the University of Florida’s Department of Medicine, told New Scientist.
The fungi, according to research team member Jason Smith, could have come from several places such as through the air and on one’s hands, but they may also have already been present in the vape liquids. And while they didn’t specifically test the vape liquids for the presence of fungi, Smith said, “The residues left behind inside the vape device may provide a food source for molds to grow.”
Another research team member, Katy Deitz, also pointed out that about a third of participants who reported having respiratory symptoms didn’t clean their vapes. Similar studies to this one, involving hookahs or waterpipes, has shown evidence of contributing to microbial-induced lung disease.