XPost: alt.smokers, alt.health, sac.politics
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From: gavin.newsom.is.an.idiot@latimes.com

State and federal health officials are investigating almost 100 cases
of mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping and e-cigarette use in
14 states, many of them involving teens and young adults. A large
number of those stricken ill have been hospitalized, with some in
intensive care and on ventilators.

At least 31 cases have been confirmed as of Friday, state officials
said, and dozens more are under investigation. Medical authorities say
it is unclear whether patients will fully recover.

Officials are warning clinicians and the public to be on alert for
what they describe as a severe and potentially dangerous lung injury.
Symptoms include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath or chest
pain before hospitalization. Health officials said patients have also
reported fever, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that
officials are working with health departments in at least five states
with confirmed cases — California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and
Wisconsin — 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. In a call Friday with
state health authorities, CDC officials said they were probing 94
possible cases in 14 states.

To date, there is no consistent evidence that an infectious disease is
the culprit, CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben said. While some of the
cases appear similar, officials said they don’t know whether the
illnesses are associated with the e-cigarette devices themselves, or
with specific ingredients or contaminants inhaled through them. Health officials have said patients have described vaping a variety of
substances, including nicotine, marijuana-based products and
do-it-yourself “home brews.”

Underscoring growing concern, CDC officials say they are notifying
health-care systems and clinicians across the country about the
illnesses and what to watch for. State health departments have also
issued warnings.

E-cigarettes have grown in popularity over the past decade despite
little research on their long-term effects. In recent years, health
authorities have warned of an epidemic of vaping by underage
teenagers. The leading brand, Juul, said it is monitoring the reports
of illnesses and has “robust safety monitoring systems in place.”

Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, a group
that advocates vaping products, said that each month, about 10 million
adults vape nicotine without major issues. “It appears much more
likely that the products causing lung damage are amateur-made street
vapes containing THC or illegal drugs, not nicotine,” he argued.

But health authorities are not at all sure that is correct.

“We haven’t had that kind of history with vaping to be able to assure
anyone — teens included — that this is a safe practice,” said Emily
Chapman, chief medical officer at Children’s Minnesota, a health
system headquartered in Minneapolis, which has cared for four teens,
ages 16 to 18, with lung illnesses.

In the past month, the teenagers presented symptoms that appeared
manageable and consistent with viral-type infections or bacterial
pneumonia — shortness of breath, coughing, fever and abdominal
discomfort, Chapman said. But they continued to deteriorate despite
appropriate treatment, including with antibiotics and oxygen support.
Some suffered respiratory failure and had to be put on ventilators,
she said.

Chapman said physicians eventually made the connection to
vaping-associated acute lung injury. When the patients were treated
with steroids, among other therapies, they showed improvement.

Clinicians don’t know whether the patients will suffer long-term
consequences, she said.

“These cases are extremely complex to diagnose, as symptoms can mimic
a common infection yet can lead to severe complications and extended hospitalization,” Chapman said. “Medical attention is essential.
Respiratory conditions can continue to decline without proper
treatment.”

E-cigarettes are a diverse group of products containing a heating
element that produces an aerosol from a liquid that users can inhale
via a mouthpiece. Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes, with the
greatest use among young adults. In 2018, more than 3.6 million U.S.
middle and high school students said they had used e-cigarettes in the
past 30 days, according to the CDC.

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report in
January 2018 found that while e-cigarettes are less harmful than
conventional cigarettes, which produce a raft of toxic substances when
burned, they still pose health risks. Among nonsmoking adolescents and
young adults, the report said, “their adverse effects clearly warrant
concern.” Such effects include “moderate evidence for increased cough
and wheeze” and increased incidence of asthma attacks.

But many medical authorities believe there still isn’t sufficient data
to know their full effects, especially on young people.

Dylan Nelson, of Burlington, Wis., who has asthma and has been vaping
for about a year, was hospitalized with pneumonia last month after he
started having trouble breathing. The 26-year-old described feeling as
if he were breathing through a straw. He said he was coughing, his
heart was racing, and his breathing was hard and fast.


Dylan Nelson, of Burlington, Wis., and his sister, Andrea, sit for an
interview July 29. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP)
Nelson said he spent days in the hospital, some of that time attached
to a ventilator. His mother, Kim Barnes, said when a nurse told her it
might be related to vaping, it was a wake-up call for her.

Now, she wants to convey that urgency to other parents: “You need to
sit your kids down and tell them the dangers of this stuff. If you’re
an adult, wise up — this is not good. Look into it before you decide
to pick this stuff up and start using this.”

Including Nelson, Wisconsin had 15 confirmed cases as of Thursday, and
another 15 under investigation, the health department said. All were hospitalized. The first cases were among teens and young adults, but
newer ones include patients in older age groups, officials said. All
the patients reported vaping in the weeks and months before being
hospitalized, but officials said they do not know the names and types
of products used.

New York’s health department said Friday it is actively investigating
11 reported cases of pulmonary disease in people using vape products;
it has issued a statewide advisory to health-care providers. Patients
ranged in age from 18 to 49, and many reported the use of
cannabis-containing products, the advisory said.

Minnesota’s health department, meanwhile, urged providers to be on
alert “for vaping as a cause for unexplained breathing problems and
lung injury and disease.” It is asking clinicians to look for similar
cases and report them.

“There are still many unanswered questions,” said Ruth Lynfield,
Minnesota state epidemiologist and the health department’s medical
director. “But the health harms emerging from the current epidemic of
youth vaping in Minnesota continue to increase.”

Doctors had seen “scattered cases” of lung illnesses tied to vaping
before, but they had not identified a pattern until now, said Chapman,
of Children’s Minnesota.

“I think it’s important to understand that vaping is assumed to be
safe, and yet we know so little about it,” she said.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/08/16/mystery-lung-illness-linked-vaping-health-officials-investigating-nearly-possible-cases/

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* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)