CDC Issues Recommendations Following e-Cigarette–Related Outbreak
The CDC has issued recommendations for clinicians, public health officials, and the public in response to the recent multistate outbreak of severe pulmonary disease associated with the use of e-cigarette/vaping products.
As of August 27, 2019, 215 possible cases have been reported in 25 states. One patient with suspected e-cigarette–related severe pulmonary disease has died. Symptoms have included cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, and weight loss. Symptoms develop over a period of several days but have also developed over several weeks in some cases. Some patients have shown improvement following treatment with corticosteroids, and antimicrobial therapy has not shown consistent effectiveness.
The CDC is recommending that clinicians:
- Report cases of severe pulmonary disease of unclear etiology and history of 3-cigarette use to their local health department.
- Ask patients with a history of e-cigarette use about the symptoms of pulmonary illness.
- Obtain detailed history when e-cigarette use is suspected as the possible etiology of a patient’s pulmonary illness, including substances used, their source, devices used, purchase location, method of use, and other potential cases due to sharing of products.
- Determine if remaining product is available for testing.
- Consider all possible causes of illness in these patients and treat other possible causes as clinically indicated.
- Decide to use corticosteroid on a case-by-case basis.
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Severe pulmonary disease associated with using e-cigarette products [published online August 30, 2019]. https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00421.asp.