Real-Time Digital Surveillance of Vaping-Induced Pulmonary Disease

A surge in cases of severe pulmonary disease associated with the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), also called vaping, is emerging across the United States. Clinical presentations include shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, and gastrointestinal symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.1 These cases represent a public health threat given the increasing popularity and prevalent use of e-cigarettes, which are marketed as a safer alternative to smoking.2

Figure 1. Confirmed and Suspected Cases of Vaping-Associated Pulmonary Disease in the United States. This report provides an integrated view of the vaping-related pulmonary disease outbreak since late July 2019. We collected online information from disparate sources including news aggregators, eyewitness reports, and validated official alerts and curated and classified the data by disease case, location, and time.3 Figure 1 shows the total number of confirmed and suspected cases of severe pulmonary disease from vaping over time across the United States. The first 8 suspected cases were detected by our online mining tool (www.healthmap.org) on July 25, 2019, in Wisconsin.

Prosegui la lettura su “The New England Journal of Medicine“