MILWAUKEE _ Dr. Lynn D'Andrea knew something was amiss when three teenagers with similar mysterious, dangerous lung injuries came into the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin one after another, gasping for air.
As the only pulmonologist on duty that Fourth of July holiday week, D'Andrea noticed those alarming cases followed on the heels of another teen who had a non-infectious condition with matching symptoms.
"'We need to be thinking about something else,'" she told Dr. Michael Meyer, medical director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, as he later recounted.
That "thinking about something else" led to the discovery of at least 805 probable vaping-related injury cases in 38 states, a U.S. territory and Canada. At least 12 people have died. While the exact cause of the illness remains unclear, President Donald Trump is considering a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, and Walmart has taken them off its shelves altogether.
The epidemic has prompted outrage about federal oversight of vaping, but there is also a local public health success story to be told. Doctors and regional officials in Wisconsin, Illinois and elsewhere pieced together that this mysterious illness was much larger than it appeared. It's a tale of teamwork, communication and long-serving public health officials tapping into their networks in an era of limited public health funding, diminished public health infrastructure and high turnover.
It's surprising in some ways that Wisconsin became ground zero for uncovering the link. The state has ranked near the bottom nationwide for per-person spending on public health until a huge boost of $588 million more was greenlighted for the next two years. Wisconsin is also home to Juul vaping pod manufacturing sites, and one of its U.S. senators, Republican Ron Johnson, credits his win to vaping advocates.
And yet the state's officials discovered the outbreak, which shows no signs of stopping.
"I don't think anyone could have anticipated how wide-reaching this problem has become," D'Andrea said in an email.
