SPOKANE, Wash. — With the rise of reports of a vaping-related illness, doctors said research led to understanding the connection between vaping and a respiratory illness.
While experts have studied the effects of cigarettes for at least 30 years, doctors have only been researching e-cigarettes and vaping pens over the past 15 years.
“I think that’s the challenge,” said Bob Lutz, a Spokane County health officer.
Lutz said all of the different devices, flavors and ingredients in the e-liquid have made it harder for doctors to pinpoint the exact cause of the issue.
He said doctors are starting to ask patients with vaping illness symptoms about their vaping history.
“That’s where it takes some astute physicians, some astute providers to put those two and two together and get four,” Lutz said.
He said the vaping illness has some of the same symptoms as pneumonia, which led some doctors to possibly misdiagnose their patients.
“And oftentimes it’s being treated like pneumonia, but it’s not responding to antibiotics,” he said.
Some doctors have begun asking their patients about their vaping history, in addition to their smoking and drinking habits.
Lutz said this is how doctors were able to make connections between vaping and the pneumonia-like illness.
“We’ve been saying that vaping isn’t safe. We’ve been saying vaping is unregulated. Now we have evidence to support the claim that vaping is not safe,” he said.