Top Trump administration health officials are teaming up with state and local-level health departments to find a possible link between vaping and a spike in lung diseases across 25 states.
As of Tuesday, 25 states have reported a total of 215 cases of lung disease possibly tied to e-cigarette use, according to a joint statement from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While it is impossible to blame e-cigarettes outright, both agencies say some cases are similar and linked to e-cigarette use as well as by vaping THC, a compound found in cannabis.
“Even though cases appear similar, it is not clear if these cases have a common cause or if they are different diseases with similar presentations, which is why our ongoing investigation is critical,” CDC Director Robert Redfield and acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless said in a joint statement Friday.
The FDA and CDC will work with states to determine exactly what products, if any, respiratory illness patients were using prior to getting sick. The agencies also ask that state health officials report any illness that could be tied to vaping nicotine or cannabis.
A patient in Illinois died last week of a respiratory illness that may have been caused by e-cigarette use, although health officials are still investigating the circumstances.
Much like the cases reported in other states, the Illinois patient’s symptoms included difficulty breathing and chest pain. The CDC has not released the patient’s name or gender, but a CDC representative told the press last week that at least 22 people ages 17 to 38 have been hospitalized after using vaping devices.
While the CDC and FDA get to work investigating possible ties between vaping and lung diseases, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar encouraged e-cigarette users to just say no.
“HHS and the Trump Administration are using every tool we have to get to the bottom of this deeply concerning outbreak of illnesses in Americans who use e-cigarettes,” Azar said. “This situation, and the rising tide of youth tobacco use, is a top public health priority for the Trump Administration and every leader at HHS.”
[Also read: San Francisco becomes first major US city to ban e-cigarettes]
