Health officials link mysterious lung diseases to vaping

Health officials at the United States Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) have linked a mysterious lung disease outbreak to vaping.

This is coming after nearly 100 US citizens, mostly teenagers and young adults, were hospitalized after they reported symptoms including difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, cough, and chest pain.

The only factor the patients seem to have in common is a history of vaping.

Quite a number of persons have also been admitted to the intensive care units with medical authorities stating that there is a lack of clarity as to whether or not they would recover following the difficulty associated with diagnosing the disease.

In a statement, the CDC said its officials would be working with health departments from California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin — where cases of the disease have been confirmed — to determine the cause of the condition after “a cluster of pulmonary illnesses linked to e-cigarette use” was reported “among adolescents and young adults in recent weeks.”

It is believed that the cluster was first discovered at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where eight previously healthy teenagers were hospitalized with severe lung damage.

According to the public health institute, it would also be looking into 94 possible cases across 14 states to determine the cause of the condition after medical personnel linked epidermic to vaping nicotine and marijuana.

While the CDC said that no evidence has, so far, shown that an infectious pulmonary disease is at play, it added that there is lack of clarity on whether the illness is associated with the e-cigarette devices or contaminated ingredients.

In a statement, Howard Zucker, health commissioner for New York state, said “these latest reports of pulmonary disease in people using vaping products in New York and other states are proof that more study is needed on the long-term health effects of these products.”

But Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, also claimed that an estimated 10 million adults vape nicotine monthly without the manifestation of any side effect.

“It appears much more likely that the products causing lung damage are amateur-made street vapes containing THC or illegal drugs, not nicotine,” he said.

E-cigarettes have gained increasing popularity among the young population in recent years despite warnings by health authorities on the potential dangers of their long-term use.