Vaping may have caused lung damage to 8 Wisconsin teens, doctors say

MILWAUKEE — Doctors at a Wisconsin hospital said eight teens were hospitalized with lung damage, and they believe vaping is the cause.

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The teens, from Milwaukee, Waukesha and Winnebago counties, have been hospitalized at the Children's Hospital over the past month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

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Each of the patients said they had been vaping in the weeks leading up to their hospitalizations, WISN reported.

Hospital officials said they reported the cases to the Wisconsin Department Health Services in July, the television station reported.

"They come in not breathing well and look very sick," Louella Amos, a pediatric pulmonologist with Children's Hospital, told the Journal Sentinel.

Jonathan Meiman, chief medical officer with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said the teens said in early interviews they had inhaled nicotine and THC.

"We have a common theme of vaping," Meiman told the Journal Sentinel. "We do not know of one product."

Nearly 3.6 million middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes last year, WISN reported, quoting figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Vaping in teenagers is something that's causing harm to our kids and we want that message to be loud and clear,” Dr. Michael Gutzeit of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin told the television station.

Cox Media Group