5 people have died from a lung-related illness possibly linked to vaping, as of Friday. There are 450 possible cases of the illnesses spread across 33 states, the New York Times reports.
What's happening: The deaths occurred in Indiana, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Oregon and Illinois, per the Times. The CDC maintains that no single e-cigarette product or compound has been linked to the illnesses and says there is no evidence that an infectious disease is the culprit.
Why it matters: "This cluster of illnesses represents an emerging clinical syndrome" and points to a "worrisome" trend, physicians and health officials wrote Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The big picture: “We’re all wondering if this is new or just newly recognized,” the CDC's Dana Meaney-Delman told reporters on Friday, per the AP.
- "It is possible that some of these cases were already occurring and we were not picking them up" prior to the agency's current investigation into the illnesses, director for the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller, said last month.
Go deeper: U.S. investigates fatality from vaping as lung-related illnesses rise
