Vaping is all the rage in the U.S., but young people are turning up at hospitals barely able to breathe. Over a thousand vapers have gotten sick⁠—34 are dead⁠—and no one knows why. We investigated the case of the mysterious vaping disease with help from Geri Sullivan, pulmonologist Dr. Louella Amos, lab director Iniobong Afia, inhalation toxicologist Prof. Ilona Jaspers and researcher Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce. 

Check out the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/33VzzRi 

Selected references: 

• CDC Outbreak Page: http://bit.ly/2PheKvO 
• Case reports from 53 vaping patients who got sick over the summer:  https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1911614
• “Chemical burn” analysis of patients’ lungs: https://bit.ly/2oexalC
• Jamie’s review “Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation”: https://bit.ly/32GTN14

And if you’re interested in the business side of the vaping crisis… check out The Journal’s episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0J5TjqSDQwgGtdTvxIVsEI

Credits: 

This episode was produced by our senior producer Kaitlyn Sawrey and producer Michelle Dang, with help from me, Wendy Zukerman, Lexi Krupp, Rose Rimler and Meryl Horn. We’re edited by Caitlin Kenney. Fact checking by Michelle Harris. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord and Emma Munger. A huge thanks to all the people we spoke to for this episode including: Dr Yasmeen Butt, Dr Sean Callahan, Dr Travis Henry, Professor Irfan Rahman, Christopher Harvel, Alex Sandorf, Dr James Pankow, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, Professor Lorraine Martin, Professor Moon-Shong Tang, Dr. Kevin Davidson and Myron Ronay. Extra thanks to Conor Duffy, Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.