Vaping-Related Hospitalizations

In August 2019, hospitals in the United States saw a dramatic increase in vaping-related emergency room visits. These visits were at their highest in September 2019 before beginning to decline.

Experts dubbed the vaping related illnesses EVALI, which stands for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury. As of February 4, 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) had received reports of 2,758 EVALI hospitalizations or deaths. Sixty-four deaths were confirmed across 28 states and the District of Columbia at that time.

As lung issues caused by vaping became a national crisis, different factions sprang into action. The CDC issued warnings and shared updates and state resources. Some retailers stopped selling e-cigarettes. And Congress raised the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21.

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“An Evil I Haven’t Faced Before”

While the number of reported cases of EVALI has subsided, new cases continue to be reported to the CDC. And the impact for those affected has been heavy. Some patients’ lungs couldn’t recover from the damage caused by smoking e-cigarettes.

One 17-year-old boy had to undergo a double lung transplant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. His family said that before he was admitted to the hospital in September 2019 with pneumonia-like symptoms, the teen was a completely healthy athlete.

His condition quickly worsened and within two weeks he had been moved to the top of the national transplant list. The teenage patient experienced “complete lung failure” and spent a month on a life support machine before undergoing the six-hour surgery. His doctors said he would have died without a double lung transplant.

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Dr. Hassan Nemeh, Henry Ford Hospital’s surgical director of thoracic organ transplant, spoke about the surgery at a news conference. Nemeh said:

“There was an enormous amount of inflammation and scarring in addition to multiple spots of dead tissue. And the lung itself was so firm and scarred, literally, we had to deliver it out of the chest. This is an evil that I haven’t faced before.”

Speaking about the EVALI crisis, Nemeh said, “This is a preventable tragedy. This senseless type of product needs to be fought.”

The teen’s surgery was successful. A month afterward, he was still experiencing weakness from his long period of sedation. But he was able to eat and walk on his own and was getting ready to begin rehab.

Vitamin E Acetate Possible Culprit

Both the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been testing samples related to EVALI in an attempt to learn what is causing the illness. In November 2019, the CDC shared that they had found vitamin E acetate in the lung fluids of 29 people suffering from EVALI.

Vitamin E acetate is a sticky substance used to thicken many black-market THC products. It’s a fairly common substance, and some foods and cosmetics contain it. Although ingesting vitamin E acetate or applying it to your skin doesn’t usually cause harm, that can change when it’s vaped.

Because of vitamin E acetate’s molecular structure, it needs to be heated quite a bit for it to vaporize. Heating it that much could cause the substance to decompose. This means that it’s unclear what vapers are breathing in when they smoke products that contain vitamin E acetate.

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While Anne Shuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, called vitamin E acetate “a very strong culprit of concern” in a briefing with reporters, the agency hasn’t ruled out other substances as sources of the illness. The CDC and FDA both continue to test other ingredients and compounds that could be causing EVALI. Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told The Washington Post:

“While this is a big step in helping us understand what may be causing these injuries, these findings do not rule out the potential for other compounds or ingredients as contributing factors. There may be more than one cause of the outbreak.”

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Avoiding EVALI

As the agencies continue to gather more information about EVALI and the substances that may be causing it, the CDC has shared some recommendations. First, they warn not to use any vaping or e-cigarette products. And they caution people to especially be wary of products procured from informal sources, such as friends, family, or dealers, whether in-person or online.

The CDC also warns not to add any substances to vaping products. And youth, young adults, and pregnant women should not use vapes or e-cigarettes at all.

*Article originally appeared at Healthy Holistic Living. Reposted with permission.