California officials confirmed on Monday that a 7th person has died from a lung-related illness linked to vaping, reports CNBC.
What's happening: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has narrowed its investigation to 380 possible cases of illnesses across 36 states, according to NBC. Deaths have occurred in Kansas, Indiana, Minnesota, California, Oregon and Illinois, per the Washington Post. 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.
- The fatality in Kansas is at least the 4th reported in a middle-aged or elderly person, per the Post.
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, the 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
