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Cone Health Patient First NC Death Linked To Vaping

In this Tuesday, April 10, 2018 photo, a high school principal displays vaping devices that were confiscated from students at the school in Massachusetts. On Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 805 confirmed and probable cases have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 12. (AP File Photo/Steven Senne)

Cone Health of Greensboro is reporting the state's first known death connected to vaping. Spokesman Doug Allred confirmed that a patient died Wednesday from a lung illness linked to e-cigarettes.

No information about the patient was released. Allred said eight other people with similar issues had been treated by Cone Health through mid-August. The symptoms are like pneumonia and include coughing, shortness of breath, and nausea or vomiting.

State officials say the victim is a resident of Virginia, and they're working with the Virginia Department of Health to determine if the case meets the Center For Disease Control's criteria for vaping-related lung illnesses. 

Earlier this month, the director of Guilford County's public health urged people to stop vaping until more is known about what is causing the illnesses.

Guilford recently joined a multi-state investigation of lung illnesses connected to e-cigarettes. Many cases have been linked to the illicit use of cannabinoid products such as THC and CBD. 

 

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

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