17-year-old vaper nearly loses lungs

AFTER 5 MONTHS: ATTRIBUTED TO DIACETYL IN E-CIGS

In this case in Canada doctors find different cause than in the United States.

A17-year-old Canadian nearly lost his lungs after five months of intensive vaping, but the ingredient suspected of doing the damage, diacetyl, is different from the substance US authorities blame for dozens of deaths.

The case, described yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), deepens the mysteries surrounding e-cigarettes, which are so popular US President Donald Trump earlier this week backed away from a proposed ban on vaping flavours, fearing it could cost him votes. Vaping has been blamed for 42 deaths in the US since the past summer. Canada has only eight patients and no deaths.

The CMAJ study centres on a 17-year-old male vaper who was in good health and vaping daily. The lesions in his lungs differed from those seen in the US, where more than 2 000 people have fallen ill from vaping. In the US, the lungs of patents presented mainly alveolar lesions in the air sacs at the end of the airways. Some had chemical-like burns. US investigators have concluded the culprit is vitamin E oil, which is added to e-cigarette refills.

But the CMAJ study determined the lungs of the young vaper suffered from bronchiolitis obliterans, which is inflammation of the small airways off the lungs called bronchioles.

The young man’s condition grew so dire a double lung transplant was considered. His injuries were similar to those in people with “popcorn lung,” a condition found in workers in a microwave popcorn factory who had inhaled diacetyl.