10 questions about vaping illness and seasonal flu
The author is a postgraduate student from East China University of Political Science and Law. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.
According to data released by Johns Hopkins University as of May 27, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States has exceeded 1.68 million, and 98,916 people have died. It is surprising that the United States, which values human rights the most and has the most advanced medical conditions in the world, would have so many confirmed cases and deaths. This reminds us of the vaping illness and seasonal flu that the US government has not yet responded to. As observers, we still feel confused about a core question: Did the two sudden outbreaks and the disappearance of unknown diseases have some connections with COVID-19 and did they provide soil for the large-scale outbreak of COVID-19?
The US government has a responsibility and obligation to answer these 10 questions about vaping illness and seasonal flu.
Question One: E-cigarettes have been around in the US for several years, so why has vaping illness suddenly appeared and why have the cases increased dramatically in the year of 2019 ? Why has the American media previously avoided mentioning the effects of e-cigarettes on the respiratory system and even trumpeted their substitution for traditional tobacco?
E-cigarettes, which contain nicotine, have been available in the United States since 2007. In the spirit of curiosity, I searched the New York Times with "e-cigarette" as the keyword, and collected and sorted out the representative reports of the New York Times on e-cigarettes since January 2018. We can see that e-cigarettes have been controversial in the United States for a long time, but the point of controversy is that some experts believe that e-cigarettes are safer, less toxic and less risky to smoke than traditional cigarettes. But it can lead to addiction to e-cigarettes, damage to brain development, memory loss and even the increase of the risk of suffering heart disease. There was no mention of the negative effects on respiratory problems and lung diseases. Even the claims which experts have used to counter the criticism of e-cigarettes are that they contain much less nicotine and are safer than conventional tobacco. CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta also questioned in an interview: "We've never heard of a mysterious disease like this before, and I think the connection is worth exploring." Why, given the long history of e-cigarette products, did vaping illness "suddenly" appear in 2019? Why haven't American researchers found a link between e-cigarettes and lung disease before? Why hasn't the American media previously warned the public about the respiratory effects of e-cigarettes?
Question Two: The outbreak of vaping illness coincided with unexplained respiratory infections in two nursing homes. Why do respiratory diseases occur during the off-flu season? Are older people jumping on the e-cigarette bandwagon?
On July 12, 2019, an outbreak of unexplained respiratory illness at a nursing home in northern Virginia sickened more than 50 elderly people and killed two, according to NBC news. The cause of the disease remains unknown, and county and state health officials are still conducting laboratory tests to determine what exactly is causing the disease. Health officials said what was striking about this outbreak is the number of residents affected and the time of year when the flu and respiratory illnesses occurred - in summer, not winter. Why did the respiratory diseases occur in a non-flu season? The outbreak of an unidentified lung disease in the nursing home occurred close to an outbreak of "e-cigarette lung disease". Are older people jumping on the e-cigarette bandwagon? If it wasn't flu or vaping illness, what was the real source of the disease?
