Five deaths in the United States, 450 patients

At least five people died after using
electronic cigarettes to
United States, announced the health authorities Friday, the number of patients struck by severe breathing difficulties having 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.

Waiting for 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 the samples analyzed," said Mitch Zeller, director of the Tobacco Center at the Food and Drug Administration, who tests national level the products involved.

Breathing problems suddenly appearing

"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.

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.

Unusable lungs

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.

Black marks

"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 trail, 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.