Why Are Healthy People Dying From Vaping Live Science

15 October 2019. The mysterious vaping outbreak in the U.S. has led to nearly 1,300 lung injuries and 26 deaths as of last week, including deaths among young, seemingly healthy people. But what makes these illnesses so serious, and even deadly? So far, state and federal investigators haven’t found what’s causing the illnesses, and there could be more than one cause. Whether the culprit is chemicals or oils, the substances place a heavy burden on the lungs, making it difficult for them to efficiently pump oxygen through the body. For most patients, that means shortness of breath, cough, chest pain and sometimes even nausea, vomiting, fever and weight loss. But for others, the condition, now being called “e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury,“ or EVALI, can develop to become life-threatening.