Doctors told about the main danger of "popcorn disease"

The statistics currently available indicate that the new EVALI disease can cause serious damage to health, lead to disability, and in some cases be fatal, Andrey Martyushev-Poklad, a leading specialist in the NTI Helsnet market, told Izvestia.

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"Oils and other components of vaping liquids enter the lungs, damage them and cause an inflammatory response. This can contribute to allergic inflammation and the development of infections. In addition, due to changes in the bronchi and lung tissue, natural gas exchange is disrupted, which leads to hypoxia," he noted.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the diagnosis of the disease is difficult due to its similarity to other conditions, and there are no special studies, the expert added. The diagnosis is often made by the exclusion method when there is no improvement during treatment. The disease can be confused with bacterial pneumonia, in which antibiotics are prescribed, but such treatment will not help with EVALI.

At the same time, it is impossible to create a vaccine against smoking, whether it is conventional or electronic cigarettes, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the M.F. Gamalei Center, told Izvestia.

"Theoretically, it is possible to develop a drug against harmful substances that come from smoke, such as, for example, nicotine. But the difficulty is that they are more or less present in the human body and are involved in important metabolic processes, so we have a natural tolerance for them. It is much more reasonable to use propaganda so that people don't get carried away with bad habits," he told Izvestia.

On March 19, the Department of Rospotrebnadzor in the Tomsk Region posted a message on its Telegram channel stating that smoking vapes and electronic cigarettes leads to "popcorn disease." It manifests itself in the form of inflammation, scarring, and narrowing of the bronchioles. It is detected by listening to the lungs, which emit a sound resembling the popping of popcorn, the agency said in a statement.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Easy task: doctors talked about the main danger of "popcorn disease"