at least 5 deaths related to electronic cigarettes and 450 patients

At least five people died after using electronic cigarettes in the United States, health authorities said on Friday, as the number of patients suffering from severe breathing difficulties doubled to 450 in the country.

Federal investigators did not specify which brands or substances in the electronic cigarette liquids were likely to have caused the observed respiratory problems. But a common denominator common to patients is that they had been vaping products containing THC, the active substance of cannabis.

This was the case of at least one of the two victims whose deaths were announced Friday afternoon by local health authorities in California and Minnesota. Both were also relatively old and in poor health.

Severe lung lesions

"The patient from Minnesota was over 65 and died in August after a long and complicated hospitalization," the Midwest State Health Agency said in a statement.

According to the experts, this patient suffered from chronic respiratory problems and was hospitalized due to severe lung injury. Investigations have linked these pulmonary lesions to vaping inhalation of illicit products containing THC, the statement said.

In California, the Los Angeles County Public Health Agency also reported a death related to the electronic cigarette, a patient over 55 years old. He "suffered from chronic health problems" but it is the vaping that is considered the probable cause of his death, said the head of the Agency, Dr. Muntu Davis.

He did not specify what type of products he used but said that of the twelve cases of patients who became sick after vaping – including the fatal case – identified in the county, all but one had "used to consume products based on cannabis or marijuana ". Another death has been confirmed in Indiana after Oregon and Illinois.

More complete analyzes

A possible link has been established between some patients and a vitamin E oil, which is normally consumed in capsule or oil for the skin. High temperature spraying of this additive may have damaged the vapors' lungs.

But health officials in the federal state have called for caution while waiting for more comprehensive analyzes. "No single substance or molecule, including vitamin E acetate, has been identified in all of the samples analyzed," said Mitch Zeller, director of the Tobacco Center at the Food and Drug Administration, who tests national level the products involved.

"We do not have all the answers yet," added Ileana Arias, head of non-infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a precautionary measure, the CDC recommends immediately not to use electronic cigarettes of any kind.

Very young patients

The respiratory problems are all the more shocking that they appear suddenly, in patients often young and without health problem. In Illinois, half of the patients were under 19 years old. The symptoms often corresponded to lipid pneumonia, which is observed when oils penetrate the lungs.

Sean Callahan, a pulmonologist at the University of Utah hospital, treated one of these patients in July, aged 20. The respiratory distress was such that the young man had to be placed for more than a week in a machine that oxygenated the patient's blood out of his body, as his lungs could no longer function.

"I had never seen this before," said Dr. Callahan. "Usually, patients who need this machine have very advanced forms of influenza or pneumonia, or they have weakened immune systems because of cancer or chemotherapy." The young man finally got out and went home, but is not safe from possible aftermath.

As for the Vitamin E track, the New York authorities have published photos of the refills involved: they have very colorful packaging under the name of Dank Vapes, a "brand" that apparently does not correspond to any legitimate company but is distributed in the street and on the internet. The death of Oregon, on the other hand, had purchased his product at a legal cannabis clinic.

These lung diseases add to the pressure on legal manufacturers of electronic cigarettes, accused by the authorities of having promoted their products among young people as a healthy and cool alternative to smoking.