Last week the first confirmed Canadian case of a vaping related illness was reported in London. Today, Dr. Chris Mackie (CMO of the Middlesex London Health Unit) shared new details of the case.
Mackie says the teen who became ill suffered from extreme respiratory failure. The respiratory failure presented as an advanced form of lipid pneumonia as was seen in the cases that made headlines and lead to 8 deaths in the US.
Mackie also answered, in part, the question that has been on the minds of vapers and vape shop owners alike: What was the product that caused this and where was it purchased?
“Incidentally this product was a product purchased online by this youth. It was not something purchased in a store in Canada.”
Very concerning to see such a severe case of lung disease in a high school aged youth that was associated with #vaping. Not the sort of Canadian first one wants to have to share. https://t.co/KtVl0A8w7I
— Dr. Chris Mackie (@Healthmac) September 18, 2019
Mackie went on to say that, due to lax regulations, there is little to no testing being done on the type of product the teen had purchased.
In the interview, Mackie also described the extent physicians went to while making a diagnosis.
“There was no infection. They tested for all sorts of bacterial, viral, or other pneumonia. None. There was no hint of cancer. This wasn’t a lung cancer situation. The person had no autoimmune disease that might explain this. There was nothing else except a history of heavy vaping.”
Mackie does admit that vaping is probably safer than smoking but says that is “a low bar” to beat.
However, studies published by Public Health England have found that vaping is “at least 95% safer” than smoking cigarettes. In the UK there have been no reported cases of vaping-related illness and PHE continues to say vaping is a highly effective smoking cessation method to get smokers off of cigarettes. They will be publishing results from a 10-year study on vaping early next year.
