DOCTORS are warning e-cigarette users about a new vaping-related lung disease which causes similar symptoms to a condition known as ‘popcorn lung’.
Medics identified the lung injury in a Canadian teen which they believe is linked to flavourings in conventional vape pens.
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And they say the condition has almost identical symptoms to ‘popcorn lung’ – a condition seen in workers exposed to flavourings in microwave popcorn.
The case, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal earlier today, involved a 17-year-old male who developed a form of bronchiolitis.
Bronchiolitis is a serious lung injury that has been linked to diacetyl, the chemical that gives microwave popcorn its buttery flavour.
Various studies have also found diacetyl in vaping liquids.
Worsening symptoms
The teen, who had previously been fit and well, arrived at the emergency department of a community hospital in Ontario last spring with a severe cough.
Medics diagnosed him with pneumonia and he was prescribed antibiotics.
However, five days later, the youngster was back with worsening symptoms and was admitted to hospital so he could have intravenous antibiotics.
He continued to decline and was eventually put on a breathing machine to help him, but still failed to improve.
Irreversible condition
At that point, he was transferred to London Health Sciences Centre and put on a ECMO machine – an extreme treatment that takes over the work of the lungs.
Eventually the teen was stabilised but the condition he has is irreversible.
Dr. Karen Bosma, a London Health intensive care physician and a study author, said: “I was concerned his lungs might never recover enough to get him off the machine.”
Fearing he might need a lung transplant, the team transferred the patient to a regional transplant centre in Toronto.
What is ‘popcorn lung’?
‘Popcorn lung’ is the nickname for bronchiolitis obliterans.
It’s a condition that damages your lungs’ smallest airways and makes you cough and feel short of breath.
It’s sometimes caused by breathing in a chemical used to flavor microwave popcorn, however other chemicals or lung illnesses can also cause ‘popcorn lung’.
This leads to scarring that makes them narrower which, in turn, makes it harder for you to get enough air.
The chemical that gave this condition its nickname is diacetyl.
After workers at a factory that packaged microwave popcorn were found to have bronchiolitis obliterans more often than other people, some companies stopped using diacetyl as a flavoring.
But it’s still used in some electronic cigarette flavors in the US.
Many e-cigarette makers state they aren’t using this chemical in their products and its use in e-cigarettes is banned in Europe.
Since testing had ruled out infection, doctors decided to try high-dose steroids, which helped reduce inflammation.
The patient had reported using both flavoured nicotine vapes and THC – the psychoactive agent in marijuana. Doctors suspected a vaping-related injury, even before the U.S. outbreak had been reported.
Although the case shares similarities with the more than 2,000 cases of vaping-related illnesses in the United States, the injury is different.
Instead of damaged air sacs in the lungs, the teen had damaged airways, which his medics believe were caused by chemical injury.
I was concerned his lungs might never recover enough to get him off the machine
Dr. Karen Bosma, intensive care physician
Dr Bosma added: “This is a new finding.”
She also revealed that several vaping chemicals could have caused the disease but the team focused on diacetyl as it has been shown to cause similar illnesses.
The teen is still struggling with his breathing even four months after his discharge.
Doctors are unsure whether his lungs will ever recover, with Dr Bosma adding: “in patients with popcorn lung, it’s irreversible.”
The warning comes after the vaping death toll in the US has risen to 43 – with cases of the illness surging to 2,172.
How safe are e-cigarettes in the UK?
In the UK, e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality.
They’re not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.
The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at much lower levels.
While nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes, it’s relatively harmless.
Almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.
Nicotine replacement therapy has been widely used for many years to help people stop smoking and is a safe treatment.
There’s no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you.
This is in contrast to secondhand smoke from smoking, which is known to be very harmful to health.
Source: NHS
New York health officials confirmed that a man in his 30s had become the latest victim to die of a vaping-related illness.
The Manhattan man had a reported history of using e-cigarettes and vape products and an investigation by the Department of Health (DOH) concluded that vaping-associated illness caused his death.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has since called on President Trump to follow through on his pledge to ban flavoured e-cigarettes.
