There are currently 450 possible cases of lung-related illnesses in at least 33 states across the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in association with vaping. As of Tuesday, the death count is at six. The victims come from Kansas, California, Oregon, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. At this rate, it wasn’t long before it hit home. Today, officials at the Washington Department of Health have found the first local case of the lung illness related to vaping.
The teenager in question fell ill back in early August with fever symptoms strong enough to hospitalize them for five days, per the Stranger. The teenager had been using e-cigs for three years to vape nicotine and saffron. It’s unclear what specific vape device the teenager was using or if they had been consuming any cannabis vape cartridges.
Seattle Teen Falls Prey To Vape Cartridge Illness
A health officer for King County’s public health department said they only know the teen was vaping nicotine and saffron at this moment. The individual’s age is being kept private, as well as what hospital they’re residing in.
The CDC, as well as the FDA, state and local health departments, and even further are investigating this multi-state outbreak of severe pulmonary disease. Vitamin E acetate has become the biggest suspect with the lung-related illnesses, a common “thickening agent” usually found in topical creams and lotions. Propylene glycol (PG,) PEG 400, vegetable glycerin (VG,) and medium chain triglycerides (MCT,) have also been found in bootleg blends of cannabis oil that are damaging to your health.
For the extreme level of popularity vape cartridges have, they have an equally extreme lack of regulation. Recently, California made a change to their regulations on the minuscule lead content in cannabis vape cartridges. There’s still so much that’s unknown with the hardware largely in use for vaping cannabis and nicotine. Not to mention the “oil” inside. We encourage everyone to stay up to date on any further findings made public from the CDC.
