A TOP doctor has reacted to the news going on in the media about a teenager who allegedly developed “wet lung” as result of vaping as nothing but “absolute nonsense”.
Within the first week of this month, International news agencies reported that an 18-year-old lady had been diagnosed to have wet lungs, an uncommon complication associated with the lungs; the report went ahead to explain it was caused after a continuous use of e-cigarette for about 3 weeks.
Regardless of the popularity of this report, it has been dismissed by Dr. Konstantinous Farsalinos, a top medical professional who opined that since the patient had already been diagnosed of a mild form asthma, having pneumonia after a minor allergic reaction with such medical history is not out of place. Labeling the medical incident with ‘wet lung’, a hardly used medical term and linking it to the use of e-cigarette is meaningless, and that such media report is only designed to discredit the use of e-cigarette. .
Earlier this month, the unnamed restaurant waitress, who has been vaping using an e-cigarette to help her quit smoking, was reported to be in severe pain and had great difficulty breathing. On getting to the hospital, the medical reports revealed that she had “hypersensitivity pneumonitis” an ailment usually caused by the inhalation of some allergens such as dust.
In the medical report given by the pediatrician monitoring the patient’s progress, Dr. Casey Somerfield wrote “Estimating the frequency of occurrence of this kind of medical condition is quite difficult. Nevertheless, there have been few reports of respiratory tract diseases in adults where the use of electronic cigarettes has been indicted. However, confusions of this sort will be addressed as more cases will likely be recorded with the increased use of electronic cigarettes"
On assessing this report, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, when asked, said that the use of the term “wet lung” in the media was unnecessary and “completely meaningless”, considering the fact it is rarely used even by medical professionals. “The case, from all indications, was about pneumonia caused by the allergic reactions, but it has been obviously hijacked by e-cigarette opponents to make a statement via the media” he reiterated.