Prognosis

Vaping Linked to Rare Type of Lung Damage in Medical Report

  • Scarring resembles illness linked to hard-metal dust exposure
  • Controversy rages in U.S. over e-cigarettes after 47 deaths
Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
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Vaping, already under scrutiny for health risks and deaths, was linked to a rare type of lung damage in a new case report.

Doctors investigating a patient’s breathing difficulties found damage that appears similar to an occupational health hazard, called hard-metal pneumoconiosis. The condition typically strikes workers involved in sharpening or polishing metal tools, physicians from the University of California, San Francisco wrote in a case history published in the European Respiratory Journal.