San Francisco Bay Area records its first death linked to vaping

By Amy Graff, SFGATE

 Published 9:34 am PST, Wednesday, November 13, 2019

 

A Marin County woman has died due to complications related to vaping, health officials said Wednesday. This is the first death recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area associated with e-cigarette use.

The victim was in her 40s and took up vaping six months ago. She was reportedly healthy before developing acute lung disease.

“With sadness, we report that there has been a death in our community suspected to be caused by severe lung injury associated with vaping,” Marin County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement.

More than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick with lung damage since March, many of them teenagers and young adults, and at least 40 people have died. Four of those deaths have been in California.

The California Department of Public Health has asked everyone to avoid vaping, no matter the substance or source, until investigations are complete.

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Vacaville woman dead in California’s fourth vaping-related death, officials believe

BY VINCENT MOLESKI

 NOVEMBER 13, 2019 06:16 PM 

 

A Vacaville woman died last week in what investigators believe is California’s fourth vaping-related death amid a rash of e-cigarette health concerns.

Amanda Margot Arconti was treated in a hospital in Novato, where she later died after coming down with an illness, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Arconti, who has family in Novato, is believed to have used e-cigarettes prior to her death, and Marin County health officials believe her death may have been connected to vaping.

A county health officer told KRON4 that Arconti, 45, was previously healthy but came into the hospital experiencing chest pain and trouble breathing, resulting in her death within hours.

A postmortem examination and toxicology tests are scheduled for Thursday in order to identify a definitive cause of death, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

In a news release issued after Arconti’s death, the California Department of Public Health warned state residents to refrain from all forms of vaping, regardless of the substance or source of e-cigarette products.

“It is tragic that yet another person has died from this cause in California and people continue to fall ill. We are working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, CDC, other state health departments and local health departments across California, investigating every case and testing products, and we’ll continue until this vaping associated outbreak is over,” CDPH director Dr. Sonia Angell said in a prepared statement. “Until that time, we urge everyone to stop vaping, especially products from informal sources.”

Since August, the CDPH has received reports of 161 people with a history of vaping being hospitalized for severe breathing trouble and lung damage, while four people, including Arconti, have died.

The CDPH said Vitamin E acetate has been identified as a potentially harmful agent present in e-cigarette products that may result in breathing problems and lung damage, but no definitive cause has been determined and no ingredients have been ruled out.

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