Nearly 60,000 Taiwanese teens smoke e-cigarettes despite unknown long-term effects

Taiwan News
Date: 020/12/02
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A 15-year-old Taiwanese teenager was diagnosed with pneumonia in September after developing a habit of smoking electronic cigarettes four years ago.

The Chung Shan Medical University (CSMU) Hospital said Tuesday (Dec. 1) that it had treated a young patient in September after he experienced symptoms of coughing, shortness of breath, epigastralgia, and nausea. It said an MRI scan of the boy's lungs showed that he was suffering from bilateral pneumonia, which can seriously inflame and scar a person's lungs.

The hospital said the boy admitted he had been smoking e-cigarettes since he was 11 without his parents' knowledge. The doctors determined the cause of the boy's illness to be vaping and said he was the first vaping-associated case of pneumonia reported in Taiwan, according to CNA.

A survey conducted by the Health Promotion Administration in 2019 also showed that both e-cigarettes and regular tobacco products have caught on among Taiwanese teenagers. It is estimated that at least 81,000 teenagers smoke cigarettes, 57,000 smoke e-cigarettes, and 16,000 use heated tobacco products.    [FULL  STORY]