Middlesex County woman dies of vaping-related illness
Photo/Flickr/Lindsay Fox
A second Massachusetts death of a vaping-related lung injury joins what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported are 34 deaths in 24 states as of Oct. 22.
A Middlesex County woman has died of a vaping-related lung injury, the second such death in Massachusetts amid a national outbreak that has so far stumped health officials.
The woman, who was in her 40s, used e-cigarettes for nicotine, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which announced her death Wednesday. The woman's hometown was not disclosed.
Earlier this month, a woman in her 60s in Hampshire County in Western Massachusetts was the state's first death from a vaping-associated lung injury. More than 200 illnesses related to smoking e-cigarettes, or vaping, have been reported to state health officials since September, when clinicians were told to immediately report any unexplained lung injury in patients with a history of vaping. Those patients vaped nicotine as well as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, an ingredient found in marijuana.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 34 deaths in 24 states as of Oct. 22. More than 1,600 cases of illnesses believed to be related to vaping have been reported to the CDC in recent months.
The CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration have said they haven't identified a cause of the lung injuries, except that patients in all cases had a history of vaping.
Gov. Charlie Baker declared a public health emergency in September, banning the sale of vaping products and devices for a four-month period, the first such ban in the country.
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