Skip to content
Health
Link copied to clipboard

New Jersey reports first vaping death

The victim was a North Jersey woman.

FILE - In this April 11, 2018 file photo, a high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass. A new study released Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, found another jump in how many U.S. teens vape nicotine-tinged electronic cigarettes. About 25% of high school seniors surveyed this year said they vaped nicotine in the previous month, up from about 21% the year before .(AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - In this April 11, 2018 file photo, a high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass. A new study released Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, found another jump in how many U.S. teens vape nicotine-tinged electronic cigarettes. About 25% of high school seniors surveyed this year said they vaped nicotine in the previous month, up from about 21% the year before .(AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)Read moreSteven Senne / AP

The New Jersey Department of Health on Tuesday announced the first death in the state associated with vaping, a woman in North Jersey.

Her death was reported to the department in August and had been under investigation, according to a news release from the department.

New Jersey has 14 cases of confirmed and probable serious lung disease associated with vaping. “One of the probable cases is the death being reported today,” the release said. An additional 32 reports of severe lung illness are under investigation. People who have been sickened range in age from 15 to 51. Most are male.

The death “underscores the potential dangers associated with vaping,” said Judith Persichilli, acting health commissioner and chair of the governor’s Electronic Smoking Device Task Force.

Nationally, there have been more than 800 confirmed and probable cases as well as 13 deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Pennsylvania has had 10 to 29 cases.