South Carolina health officials are investigating 8 cases of vaping-related illness

Three cases confirmed so far

Liv Osby
The Greenville News
  • These cases have been reported in 36 states
  • South Carolina has had one confirmed case, six under investigation

Editor's note: This story was changed to reflect another confirmed case of vaping-related illness in South Carolina added on Sept. 17. 

As federal health officials investigate 380 probable and confirmed cases of severe lung disease related to vaping around the country, South Carolina is looking into eight cases of its own and three confirmed cases so far.

Six deaths nationwide have been linked to e-cigarette use, and the illness has been documented in 36 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The three confirmed South Carolina cases involve patients in the Upstate, the Midlands and the Pee Dee, said Chris Delcamp, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Protection. No further information about them was immediately available.

Carol Reeves, CEO of Just Say Something, a Greenville nonprofit that works to prevent youth smoking, and drug and alcohol use, said she wasn’t surprised to hear about the potential cases in South Carolina.

Vaping in Portland, Maine, Aug. 28, 2019.

“My suspicion is there’s probably more because our state is no different than any other state that’s going through this,” she told The Greenville News. “From what we’re hearing and seeing, it’s a very serious health problem. And we have to respond.”

The six deaths occurred in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon, CDC reports.

Symptoms - which include cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever and weight loss - developed over a few days for some patients and several weeks for others, with many requiring hospitalization and sometimes ventilators to breathe, CDC reports.

Scientists have found no specific cause yet. But an infection doesn’t appear to be the cause of the illness, which doesn’t improve with antibiotics, and seems more likely to be the result of a chemical exposure, CDC reports.

“We need as much data as possible to fully understand the extent of the problem and to identify the cause of these illnesses,” said Dr. Dana Meaney Delman, incident manager of CDC’s response.

“If e-cigarette product use is suspected as a possible cause for a patient’s pulmonary disease, a detailed history of the substances used, the source of the substances, and the devices used should be obtained, and efforts should be made to determine if any remaining product, devices, and liquids are available for testing.”

FILE - This Tuesday, April 10, 2018 file photo shows vaping devices, including a Juul, center, that were confiscated from students at a high school in Marshfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) ORG XMIT: MASR201

E-cigarettes are devices that heat a flavored liquid, which usually contains highly-addictive nicotine, resulting in an aerosol that’s inhaled - or vaped - by the user, according to CDC.

Nicotine is toxic to developing fetuses, can harm the brain development of adolescents and young adults, and is dangerous for pregnant women, the agency reports.

Though it has fewer toxins than the 7,000 dangerous chemicals in regular cigarettes, the aerosol from vaping can also contain ultra-fine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals like lead, and diacetyl - a chemical linked to a serious lung disease, the CDC reports.

And researchers don’t know about the long-term effects of vaping, whose aerosol can also be inhaled by people nearby.

While the affected patients have used products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a psychoactive component of marijuana, or nicotine or both, no one substance has been identified in all of the samples, according to the FDA.

Young teen using an electronic cigarette

But the FDA is analyzing more than 120 samples for nicotine, THC and a broad range of chemicals, including cutting agents, additives, pesticides, poisons, heavy metals, opioids and toxins.

It’s illegal for minors to buy or possess e-cigarettes in South Carolina, according to DHEC.

Nonetheless, they are popular among young people.

In South Carolina, e-cigarette use grew by 21% among high school students from 10.8% to 13.1% between 2015 and 2017, the agency reports. And a third of the students reported ever vaping.

Nationwide in 2018, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students had vaped within the past 30 days, including 4.9% of middle schoolers and 20.8% of high school students CDC reports. And while only 1.3% of users 45 and older had never smoked cigarettes, 40% of those 18 to 24 had never smoked cigarettes.

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Though the legal age to buy e-cigarettes in South Carolina is 18, Reeves said the products are everywhere and store clerks rarely check the age of the purchaser.

Moreover, she said, they can be easily purchased online.

While the FDA is working on regulating e-cigarettes, local communities will have to act by revisiting their anti-smoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes to have any impact quickly, Reeves said.

Meanwhile, SmokeFree SC, a nonprofit working to protect people from the harm of smoking and tobacco-use, is about to launch a statewide campaign aimed at educating parents and youth about the dangers of vaping.

E-cigarettes can look like cigarettes, cigars, pipes, pens, and USB sticks - such as JUUL - among other things, and can also be used with marijuana and other drugs, CDC reports.

Carol Reeves of Greenville Family Partnership

They are also linked to smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products among youth, as well as an increased risk for addiction to other drugs, according to CDC.

In addition to the harmful aerosol, e-cigarette batteries have caused fires resulting in serious injuries, the agency reports, and people have been poisoned by swallowing, breathing or absorbing the liquid through their skin or eyes.

DHEC recommends that people not use e-cigarettes until a definitive cause is known. The agency also has asked that health care providers report severe pulmonary disease associated with e-cigarette use so DHEC can effectively track any related incidents.

CDC also recommends that consumers avoid buying vaping products on the street, and to refrain from using THC oil or any other modifying substances to products they buy in stores.

And youths should never use any vaping product, officials say.

Health officials encourage the public to report any unexpected tobacco- or e-cigarette-related health or product issues to the FDA via the online Safety Reporting Portal at https://bit.ly/2mfixNF.

To learn more, go to www.cdc.gov/e-cigarettes.

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