While the number of cases continued climbing, the number of vaping-related deaths remained at one. The counts reflect the number of cases of lung injury that were reported to a Florida disease-surveillance system dubbed Merlin.
RELATED: Rep. Jackie Toledo of Tampa wants to raise the minimum age of vaping to 21
A surge in vaping-related illnesses across the country has drawn heavy attention recently. More than 1,000 pulmonary illness cases had been reported as of Oct. 1 to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency has not identified a cause, but it said national and regional findings suggest products containing THC — the euphoria-causing ingredient in marijuana — play a role in the outbreak.
About 70 percent of patients nationally have been males, while about 80 percent were under age 35. Sixteen percent of the patients were under 18.
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This article appears in Oct 3-10, 2019.