The number of cases of lung injuries confirmed as or judged as probably associated with vaping both nicotine and THC have jumped from 380 to 530 as of Sept. 17, the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
“This is an ongoing outbreak, not something we can consider completed,” CDC Principal deputy director Dr. Anne Schuchat told reporters. “There continue to be people with new symptoms onset.” Schuchat said that the death toll remains at seven even though the number of cases has risen.
Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer and state epidemiologist of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the number of cases in Illinois alone have risen to 69 this week from 54 in previous weeks.
The CDC is working with state-level health departments as well as with the Food and Drug Administration to study the chemicals and toxins in vaping products, but has not singled out one ingredient responsible.
“Not one product or one substance seen in all cases,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “We need to see what common threads emerge during product analysis.”
FDA laboratories are looking at 150 samples from different patients, an increase from 120 samples. Researchers have recently found vitamin E acetate in samples, but Zeller declined to add what else researchers have found that could be poisonous.
The majority of lung injury cases are male and nearly half are below 25 years of age, but Schuchat and Zeller said they could not offer further information about the patients or the investigation as it proceeds.
[Related: Trump moves to ban flavored e-cigarettes amid deadly illness outbreak]
