Lung injury due to chemical burns resemble veypinga

Last month, we wrote about the fact that electronic cigarettes are the cause of a mysterious lung disease among adolescents and young people. Recently Mayo Clinic doctors in U.S. examined lung tissue samples from 17 patients. All samples looked as if people were exposed to toxic chemicals. Two patients whose samples were tested died. Experts say that the obtained lung injury similar to burns.

The number of deaths due to smoking electronic cigarettes is growing

What happened to smokers electronic cigarette?

Since then, the number of victims of veypinga was about a hundred people a little more than a month. Today in the United States were more than 800 cases of lung disease in 46 states. 16 people died. Most of the victims smoked THC - the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but some patients report that regular smoking nicotine. Doctors were unable to determine exactly what causes damage to the lungs, as well as the quantity of harmful substances caused the disease. However, scientists still do not know whether the evaporating liquid cause of the disease or the thing toxins released from the materials used for the manufacture of devices for veypinga.

Tetrogidrokannabiol (THC) - is one of the main cannabinoids found in cannabis leaves and inflorescence.

Initially, experts suggest that light smokers were scored pairs of oils, such as THC oil or vitamin E acetate, which is sometimes used to dilute the oil THC. However, the study of tissue samples signs of oil accumulation in the lungs was found. Instead, the scientists saw a lot of immune cells called macrophages, which had a foamy appearance, typical of chemical damage. In other words, light smokers had lesions that are typical for a chemical burn. Experts report that require further study identified chemical compounds to see which ones are harmful to the body.

Deaths due to lung injury, recorded in the United States

Among the victims was a 31-year-old woman who died despite intensive treatment with steroids, and even connecting the device to deliver oxygen directly into the bloodstream. It is known that a woman smoking electronic cigarettes, but no information about what kind of material she used no. Another victim was a 21-year-old man who reported smoking nicotine for five years, but fell ill shortly after being added to Weipa marijuana.

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Deadly lung injury

According to Dr. Brandon Larsen, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, in all 17 cases, the observed pathology of the lungs, which looks like a burn from exposure to chemical fumes. Larsen believes that the injuries look the same as in humans exposed to toxins like mustard gas or chemical weapons that were used during the First World War.

Results of the study were published in The New England Journal of Medicine and included samples from 13 men and four women, whose age ranged from 19 to 67 years. About 70% of them reported smoking marijuana or cannabis oil. Eleven people were living in Arizona, five in Minnesota and one in Florida. These patients showed tissue damage and cell death mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and lungs themselves.

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In the picture of lung tissue samples of four patients. Two of them died

Scientists believe that not all patients will be able to recover, as at the moment to say that the lungs of those who managed to survive, fully restored. What will be the long-term effects of the injuries are not known. For decades, doctors have questioned patients about smoking cigarettes, but only recently started to clarify what they smoked. Two of the cases included in the report of the Mayo Clinic, took place until 2019. According to Dr. Larsen, patients with similar symptoms seek care before, but the reason for their illness has not been revealed.

Note that the electronic cigarette manufacturers continue to assure the public that their products are safe. Such statements, against the background of numerous deaths look like statements by the heads of the tobacco companies in the past - the alleged cigarette smoking does not harm health.