Youngest Person To Die From Vaping-Related Lung Injury, 15, Was From North Texas
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County is home to the youngest person in the country so far to die of a e-cigarette or vaping-related lung injury.
The 15-year-old died on New Year's Eve and had an underlying chronic medical condition.
New numbers out this week show 236 lung injury cases in Texas. More than half of those, 127, are from North Texas.
The patients range in age from 13 to 75. The median age is 22.
Researchers have found a link between these injuries and vitamin E acetate which is found in some THC-containing products, but they warn there could be more than one cause which is why they're urging people not to vape.
"I think the message is, what this is showing is that you can get really severe illness and even death from short-term use of these products and so that's a really warning and it should really make people consider their use of this," said Dr. Phil Huang, Director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.
As of Tuesday, January 7, 57 deaths have been confirmed in 27 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC says.
More deaths are under investigation.
So far 2,602 cases of hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) or deaths have been reported to CDC from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).
