US authorities have advised people to stop vaping amid a nationwide-crisis that has seen 450 people develop lung illnesses across 33 states in America. With five deaths reported last month, the crisis has developed quickly, with researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unsure whether the afflictions are ‘new or just newly recognised’.
The illnesses have seen previously healthy people hospitalised within days with serious lung diseases. Patients experience coughing, chest pain and shortness of breath – very quickly being hospitalised. According to Science Alert, many victims have developed acute respiratory distress syndrome which causes fluid in the lungs and is life-threatening.
One victim from Utah reportedly went from being perfectly healthy to being ‘kept alive by two machines’, with the Washington Post reporting that he ‘went from being sick to being on death’s door in literally two days’.
The vaping-related illnesses have led to investigations by state health departments in Illinois and Wisconsin, which have tracked signs of illness back to April this year. Over 50 patients showed symptoms, with one third ending up on respirators. The victims were mostly young men.
According to the World Health Organisation, the number of people vaping has increased from seven million in 2011 to 35 million in 2016 – with market research group Euromonitor estimating 55 million people will be vaping by 2021.
They were popularly used as a substitute for smoking given that they don’t burn tobacco, however parents have been warned that more children and young people are being drawn to vaping. One vaping product, known as Juul, comes in apple and berry flavours and can be easily disguised as a memory stick. According to The Sun{
In the US, most of the victims of the vaping crisis have been young – however all those that have died are adults. However, the scariest factor is that officials still don’t know what causes the illness.
There are no clear links between all of the products used, with some store-bought and others (the majority) street-bought. More than that, some patients reported vaping marijuana products while others only nicotine – although doctors admit patients are hesitant to admit using marijuana.
The current thinking is that certain chemicals are to blame, with the US Food and drug Administration finding multiple patients had used the same vitamin E-derived oil in marijuana products. However, they cannot yet be sure of any one particular cause.
With no cases of serious side-effects reported in the UK, British vapers have simply been advised to ensure they’re buying legal products
‘The focus of our investigation is narrowing, and that is great news, but we are still faced with complex questions in this outbreak that will take time to answer,’ Ileana Arias, the acting deputy director for non-infectious diseases at CDC, said.
While US vapers have been warned to stop smoking, health experts in the UK have stated British vapers are safe from the crisis. Martin Dockrell, head of Tobacco Control at Public health England suggested that cases across the US are linked to illicit vaping fluid that have not been regulated.
‘Unlike the US, all e-cigarette products in the UK are tightly regulated for quality and safety by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and they operate the yellow card scheme, encouraging vapers to report any bad experiences,’ he said.
‘It seems highly unlikely that widely available nicotine-containing vaping products, particularly of the type regulated in Europe, are causing these cases,’ professor Linda Bauld, a public health expert at Edinburgh University confirmed. ‘All the evidence to date suggests that illicit marijuana vaping products (THC oils) are the cause. In particular, a compound called tocopherol acetate may be the culprit.’
With no cases of serious side-effects reported in the UK, Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, has simply advised British vapers to ensure they’re buying legal products. ‘In Britain, you can check on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) website whether the product you’re using has been notified and can be legally sold.'