ST. LOUIS (WAND) - A Missouri man's death caused the number of U.S. deaths from a vaping-related illness to rise to eight.
The latest victim is a man in his mid-40s, who passed away at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, according to KSDK. Lung samples showed a vaping-related lung injury caused his death, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said.
Mild respiratory symptoms the man had became worse, officials said, before he went into hospital care on Aug. 22 and ended up getting transferred to Mercy in early September.
“This is an unfortunate case of a young man with no prior lung illness who started vaping because of chronic pain issues,” said Dr. Michael Plisco, Mercy critical care pulmonologist. “He started out with shortness of breath and it rapidly progressed and deteriorated, developing into what is called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Once the lungs are injured by vaping, we don’t know how quickly it worsens and if it depends on other risk factors.”
As WAND-TV previously reported, a vaping-related illness led to a death in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Public Health said 22 people in the state between the ages of 17 and 38 years old have suffered respiratory illness after vaping.
People affected by vaping-related illnesses have show symptoms including coughing, shortness of breath and fatigue. Vomiting and diarrhea have also been factors in some cases.
