<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
THURSDAY, Oct. 10, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The number of Americans sickened with a severe lung injury tied to vaping just keeps rising, U.S. health officials said Thursday.<\/p>\n
“As of Oct. 8, 2019, 1,299 confirmed and probable lung injury cases associated with use of electronic-cigarette, or vaping, products were reported by 49 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. That is up from 1,080 cases reported by the agency a week ago. The number of cases so severe that patients have died is also rising: 26 such deaths across 21 states have now been reported, up from the 18 deaths reported a week ago.<\/p>\n
Products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) could be a main driver behind the illnesses. In the last CDC news briefing on the subject, held last week, CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat, M.D., noted that “most patients report a history of using THC-containing products, and most patients are male and young people.”<\/p>\n
According to the new numbers, among people with information on the substances they vaped within three months of symptom onset, 76 percent reported using THC-containing products with or without nicotine-containing products, and 32 percent reported using only THC-containing products.<\/p>\n