New York: Public health officials have urged Americans to stop using e-cigarettes as they scramble to investigate a rapid and mysterious "epidemic" of lung illness that has claimed the lives of at least five vapers in recent days.
The country's top public health agency announced it was investigating 450 possible cases of lung illness associated with the use of e-cigarette products across 33 states, an outbreak that is affecting young and otherwise healthy patients.
Australian Donna Darvill started vaping to help her quit smoking. On Saturday she said it has changed her life.Credit:Justin McManus
Five e-cigarette users – one each in Oregon, California, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana – died over the past week from severe lung disease.
The phenomenon will strengthen the hand of Health Minister Greg Hunt, who has been resisting a push by Coalition MPs to legalise nicotine vaping in Australia.
"There is clearly an epidemic that begs for an urgent response," David Christiani of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health wrote in an editorial published on Friday, local time, in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Simon Chapman, an emeritus professor at the University of Sydney School of Public Health, said the outbreak showed Australia had been wise to regulate e-cigarettes more stringently than in the US.
"This is a canary in the coal mine – it could be a worrying sign of what's coming down the track," he said.
The sale of e-cigarettes containing nicotine is illegal in Australia, and the NSW and Victorian governments have banned vaping in public places.
Dylan Nelson, of Burlington, Wisconsin, right, was rushed to the hospital in June by his sister, left, with severe breathing problems. Doctors believe he and two dozen other young adults suffered serious lung injuries after vaping nicotine or THC, or both. Credit:AP
Jennifer Layden, the chief medical officer at the Illinois Department of Public Health, said evidence suggested this was "a new phenomenon" rather than a problem that had previously gone unrecognised.
"What we have found so far is that the majority of people who have become ill are generally healthy, are young – a median age of 19 years and the majority have been men," she said.
Barbara Ferrer, diretor at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health walks past a poster after announcing the county’s first known death associated with e-cigarette vaping on Friday.Credit:AP
Patients have reported symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, fever and weight loss.
New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said: "The cases of pulmonary illnesses associated with vaping are continuing to rise across New York State and the country.
"In general, vaping of unknown substances is dangerous, and we continue to explore all options to combat this public health issue."
Melbourne nicotine vaper Donna Darvill said the news from the US would not deter her from vaping.
The disability support pensioner said she has smoked e-cigarettes since 2013 and credits them for ending her 32-year cigarette smoking habit.
"I am very active in the vaping community and have never heard of a case of lung disease caused by nicotine vaping in Australia," she said.
"No-one should be vaping oil and we are well aware of that."
She said it was unfortunate the US outbreak would damage the campaign to have nicotine vaping legalised in Australia.
Mr Hunt ordered an independent inquiry into the use of nicotine e-cigarettes last year following lobbying from backbench MPs in favour of legalisation.
But he said last week he was "firmly opposed" to changing the current laws.
J Taylor Hays, director of the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Centre in the US, said e-cigarettes were "probably safer than cigarettes for sure, but they are not safe".
"Never inhale anything in your lungs except air," he said.
The American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had not identified a specific substance or product linked to all the suspected cases. But the agency said many of those affected had used vaping products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
A smaller group reported using only nicotine products.
In Minnesota, where 32 possible cases are under investigation, all the interviewed patients had reported using illicit THC vaping products.
Ileana Arias, the CDC's acting deputy director for non-infectious diseases, said officials were working "around the clock to find out what is making people sick".
Dana Meaney-Delman, who is leading the CDC's investigation, said: "Most importantly, while this investigation is ongoing, people should consider not using e-cigarette products."
Health officials in New York said that vitamin E acetate had emerged as a key focus of their state's investigation. Vitamin E is commonly found in nutritional supplements and skin creams but experts believe it may be dangerous when inhaled.
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