According to an NBC News.com article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have noted a rise in the U.S. number of people suffering from the mysterious and dangerous health effects of e-cigarettes to 1,604.

The ill health effects of vaping have given rise to a constellation of symptoms that have been named EVALI, short for E-cigarette or Vaping product use Associated Lung Injury.

According to the news outlet, reports from several state health departments indicate that lung injuries from vaping are much more widespread with current investigations in process or concluding on another 2,000 plus cases. The only state where evidence of the life-threatening health effects of vaping has not revealed itself is Alaska. The reason for this vacuum remains as mysterious as the illness itself.

This week, the addition of two patient deaths has increased the casualty count to 36. There may be more fatality stats from e-cigarette lung injuries yet to be gathered but final determination regarding causation of death has not been determined as yet. As indicated by the CDC.gov website, the average age of those patients known to have developed EVALI and survived has been 23. The average age of EVALI patients succumbing to the disease has been nearly double that at 45.

Product and Cause Identification

According to a separate and earlier report by NBC News.com, a vast majority of those that have contracted EVALI have self-reported use of vaping products containing THC. THC is the “stuff behind the high” associated with marijuana. A full 77 percent of a group of 514 EVALI interviewees engaged by the CDC claimed THC use in the days and weeks preceding their sickness.

A more condensed review of cases occurring in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin increased that number to 87 percent. The claimed sources of the THC vaping products were obtained from friends, family, and drug dealers. Caution was encouraged when viewing these figures in that many sufferers might be unlikely to confess to THC use in states where THC is against the law.

The problem with blaming THC products for EVALI is that there are many patients disavowing its use and saying they only engaged in using nicotine-based e-cigarette products. A full 16 percent claimed in the CDC review to kept their vaping limited to nicotine products. Then there are a certain number of vaping product users with e-cigarette lung problems that have fully owned a pattern of mixed-use between nicotine and THC-containing vape pods.

As the CDC continues to search for a cause, a small study comprised of eight patients that had been subjected to lung biopsies were analyzed by researchers at a Cleveland Clinic. Under the microscope, tissue samples revealed two patterns of interest—damage to the tiny air sacs of the lungs which allow for gas exchange and generalized inflammation of air sacs and airways. A few of the sample-givers had both conditions.