Canadian Teenager's Vaping Linked To Another Type Of Lung Injury - Medical Association

TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) A teenager from Ontario, Canada was put on life support after he developed lung disease as a result of prolonged e-cigarette use, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported.

"This patient had severe, acute bronchiolitis [obliterans], possibly related to inhalational injury from vaping, with several features suggestive of subsequent early bronchiolitis obliterans," the report said on Thursday.

While the teen's infection marks one of the first high-profile cases of vaping-related illnesses in Canada, the issue is raising major concerns in the United States, where the number of deaths caused by vaping-related respiratory illnesses has climbed to 42, and nearly 2,200 cases of lung injuries have been reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a notice last week.

The authors, who were also all involved in the treatment of the teenager called for stricter e-cigarette laws, stating that "there is urgent need for tighter regulation of the vaping industry."

This is a landmark case given that the teen's infection was unrelated to the epidemic of vaping-related illnesses and fatalities in the United States. The authors also noted that, despite the link between the chemical, diacetyl, commonly found in e-cigarettes, and lung disease, that "to date, there have been no reported cases in the medical literature of bronchiolitis obliterans from vaping".

Bronchiolitis obliterans is also known as "popcorn lung," derives its moniker from a case where factory workers packaging microwaveable popcorn, reported an abnormally high incidence of bronchiolitis infections due to diacetyl exposure, a flavoring used in popcorn. As a result, some popcorn makers removed diacetyl from their products.