E-cigarette pneumonia on the rise in young people

A typical case is a 16-year-old male patient who was admitted to the hospital due to chest pain, coughing up phlegm and difficulty breathing on exertion. Taking a medical history, the patient said that he had recently used e-cigarettes with friends. The patient believed that e-cigarettes were less dangerous than traditional cigarettes and was enticed by his friends.

Increased exposure to electronic cigarettes in young adults Figure 1 — The patient's CT scan showed extensive infiltrative lesions in the lower lobe of the right lung. (Photo courtesy of BVCC).

The patient was ordered to have blood and sputum tests and a chest CT scan. On the chest CT scan, there was a large infiltrating lesion in the lower lobe of the right lung. The patient was diagnosed with pneumonia, the initial cause thought to be due to smoking electronic cigarettes.

Through this, specialist doctor 2 Bui Manh Cuong - Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Respiratory said: "The patient's condition is quite complicated. Although the patient is very young and does not have any underlying diseases, the damage to the lungs is very severe, no different from that of the elderly. We had to apply treatment measures to preserve the patient's lung function as much as possible."

When used, the battery provides energy to heat the liquid in the combustion chamber to vaporize it. It also contains nicotine, addictive substances, flavorings and hundreds of other chemicals. More dangerously, e-cigarettes can be used to smoke marijuana and other addictive substances.

Doctors say that e-cigarette smoke contains many different toxic substances that have long-term effects on health. E-cigarettes have the ability to heat the liquid inside the nicotine cartridge.

When at high temperatures, this liquid will turn into vapor and the smoker will inhale this vapor into the body, thereby causing a number of health problems such as: Nausea, chest tightness, cough, increased blood pressure and heart rate; Affects memory, sleep; Affects cardiovascular diseases: Nicotine causes high blood pressure, arrhythmia... These signs are very likely to be manifestations of pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory failure, and even lung cancer.

Increased exposure to electronic cigarettes in young adults Figure 2 — Electronic cigarettes can have serious health impacts. (Illustration photo).

Many people today believe that using e-cigarettes has no effect on health and use e-cigarettes as a way to quit smoking traditional cigarettes.

However, e-cigarette smoke still contains nicotine and other addictive chemicals, so the level of impact on health is not inferior to that of traditional cigarettes. It is even more dangerous due to the subjective mentality that e-cigarettes are safer, leading to more and more frequent use. This causes serious consequences for health.

Through this, the doctor recommends that people, especially young people, minors, students, should stay away from cigarettes in general and electronic cigarettes in particular. Although sellers have many attractive advertisements, we should not forget the unpredictable harmful effects of cigarettes on the health of users or those who passively inhale cigarette smoke.

Le Trang

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