E-cigarettes could have claimed their first victim.
A user in Illinois has died after being hospitalized with severe respiratory illness, following a vaping session, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday.
The death comes amid an epidemic of hospitalizations nationwide linked to the battery-powered smoking simulators.
Cases in Illinois have doubled in the past week, with 22 young vapers ranging in age from 17 to 38 coming down with symptoms of respiratory illness, including a cough, shortness of breath and fatigue, the agency reported. Some patients also reported vomiting and diarrhea.
In several cases, patients admitted to recently using products containing THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana that can be consumed through e-cigarettes, including the popular JUULs, according to the agency.
Twelve more suspicious illnesses are under investigation by Illinois authorities for possible vaping-fueled respiratory ailments.
“The severity of illness people are experiencing is alarming and we must get the word out that using e-cigarettes and vaping can be dangerous,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. “We requested a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help us investigate these cases and they arrived in Illinois on Tuesday.”
Across the country, vaping-obsessed young people are succumbing to sicknesses health officials believe could be tied to the growing trend.
A Texas teen who puffed on vapes since the eighth grade spent 18 days in the hospital after waking up to his heart “beating out of [his] chest” and uncontrollable vomiting. Doctors said the prolific habit caused his lungs to inflame.
Eight Wisconsin teen vapers and four Minnesota young people were hospitalized earlier this summer with lung injuries health officials suspect were caused by vaping.
As of Wednesday, federal health authorities were investigating 150 cases in 16 states.