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US Health Officials Make 'Breakthrough' in Mysterious Vaping Illness

VOA News

   U.S. health officials say they have found the likely cause of a
   mysterious illness in people who smoke e-cigarettes, describing the
   findings as a "breakthrough."

   Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
   Friday that a compound known as vitamin E acetate is a "very strong
   culprit" in the search for the cause of the mysterious lung disease.

   Schuchat, who is the CDC's principal deputy director, said the compound
   was found in fluid samples taken from the lungs of 29 patients across
   the country who were diagnosed with the vaping illness.

   "We are in a better place in terms of having one very strong culprit,"
   she said.

   Schuchat cautioned that more work needs to be done to confirm that
   vitamin E acetate causes lung damage when inhaled, and said there could
   still be other toxic substances in e-cigarettes that lead to lung
   disease.

   More than 2,000 Americans who smoke e-cigarettes have gotten sick since
   March, and at least 40 of them have died.

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