The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that as of Tuesday, there were 1,604 lung injury cases associated with vaping products in the US.
The new CDC numbers on vaping-related lung injury has increased from 1,479 cases last week.
The report released on Thursday also mentioned 34 vaping-related deaths in 24 states, which include three each from California, Indiana and Minnesota and two each from Georgia, Illinois, Kansas and Oregon. The casualties' age range between 17 and 75 years old.
Meanwhile, the District of Columbia Department of Health confirmed the first vaping-related death in the district, bringing the national total to 35.
This outbreak is continuously being investigated by several government agencies, including the CDC, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state and local health departments, and other clinical and public health partners.
According to the CDC report, all patients listed in the injuries and death toll had a history of using e-cigarette products, with most of them having a history of using products containing tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis.
In September, the state of New York implemented a ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes due to increasing national concern regarding the safety of the products. The state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council approved the ban on Tuesday afternoon, placing it into effect. The ban follows New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s issuance of an emergency executive order banning the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to stop its use among minors.
Last week, leading vaping company Juul Labs announced that it would stop selling several of its flavored e-cigarettes in the US. Juul will no longer be selling its mango, creme, fruit and cucumber flavors in the US and will only maintain the tobacco-, mint- and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes.
These flavors have already been removed by the company from its online store after removing them from retail locations in 2018.
