Vaping death toll reaches 35 as epidemic of e-cigarette lung disease spreads affecting more than 1,600 people

THE vaping lung disease which is sweeping the United States has killed 35 people - with cases of the illness surging to 1,600.

Ilinois health officials yesterday confirmed a second resident had died from the illness, dubbed EVALI.

It came just hours after Washington, DC, announced the state's first death.

Cases of those who have developed the disease have now soared to 1,604, according to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - with every state bar Alaska reporting illnesses.

Nearly 80 per cent of patients have been in their teens or 20s and most of them male, the CDC say.

Just last week, the vaping lung disease claimed its youngest victim - at just 13.

Officials haven't named any of the victims of the epidemic so far and it's unclear where the 13-year-old was from.

Yet investigators still don't know what causes EVALI, which stands for “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury.”

Dr Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said last week:  “This is extremely complicated and difficult. It’s fatal or potentially fatal with half of the cases requiring intensive care."

Mystery disease

US health officials said there may be more than one cause behind the disease, which causes severe shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain.

The new guidelines urge doctors to follow up with patients a week after discharge, and to begin vaping cessation treatments or therapies for THC and nicotine before patients leave the hospital.

Dr Ned Sharpless, acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the agency has begun testing on more than 700 product samples and product parts gathered from patients and health officials.

FDA scientists are testing for a broad range of chemicals, including nicotine, THC and other marijuana components, metals, cutting agents and other additives, pesticides and toxins.

Dr Sharpless said: "Based on our testing of samples to date, there does not appear to be one product or substance involved in all of the cases. It may be there is more than one cause to this outbreak.

"We do know that THC is present in most of the samples tested to date."

Mitch Zeller, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said the agency has evaluated 225 THC-containing products and found Vitamin E acetate - a cutting agent - in nearly half of them.

Dr Sharpless said the FDA is collaborating with customs and border control agents to intercept any products containing illicit substances.

"If we determine that someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated vaping products that cause illness or death for personal profit, we would consider that to be a criminal act," he said.

The CDC and the FDA continue to urge people to stop vaping, especially products containing THC.