A local health expert warned individuals, especially the youth, that the use of vape and electronic cigarettes can actually outrightly result to the untimely demise of a person.
Dr. Donabel Tubera-Panes, head of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Services Office, said that both cigarettes and vape contain nicotine but vapes and electronic cigarettes contain other harmful chemicals that could cause the sudden death of persons.
She pointed out that ordinary cigarettes slowly kill a smoker but vape or electronic cigarette can cause the instant death of a person due to the so-called chemical pneumonitis.
Health experts define chemical pneumonitis as inflammation of the lungs or breathing difficulty due to inhaling chemical fumes or breathing in and choking on certain chemicals.
Among the common dangerous inhaled substances include Chlorine gas (breathed in from cleaning materials such as chlorine bleach, during industrial accidents, or near swimming pools); Grain and fertilizer dust; Noxious fumes from pesticides and Smoke (from house fires and wildfires).
The two types of pneumonitis are Acute pneumonitis that occurs suddenly after breathing in the substance and long-term (chronic) pneumonitis occurs after exposure to low levels of the substance over a long time. This causes inflammation and may lead to stiffness of the lungs. As a result, the lungs start to lose their ability to get oxygen to the body. Untreated, this condition can cause respiratory failure and death.
The symptoms of chemical pneumonitis include air hunger (feeling that you cannot get enough air); Breathing that sounds wet or gurgling (abnormal lung sounds); Cough; Difficulty breathing and Unusual sensation (possibly burning feeling) in the chest.
Moreover, chronic symptoms of chemical pneumonitis include Cough (may or may not occur); Progressive disability (related to shortness of breath); Rapid breathing (tachypnea) and Shortness of breath with only mild exercise.
Panes asserted that vape or electronic cigarettes cannot serve as alternatives to ordinary cigarettes because they are far more dangerous aside from the fact that it could result to the outright death of a user.
According to her, it is also possible that vape and electronic cigarette users could die the following morning after using the same due to exposure to the harmful chemicals that compose the said vape.
She advised vape and electronic cigarette users to refrain from using such items as it definitely exposes individuals to possible risks that would eventually compromise their health condition and affect their productivity in the future.
The local government in partnership with law enforcement agencies are continuously conducting an aggressive campaign on the sale, disposal and use of vapes and electronic cigarettes, especially in public places and schools, pursuant to the sustained implementation of the city’s anti-smoking ordinance and to achieve the overall objective of making the city smoke-free in the future. By Dexter A. See