Two more people in Minnesota have died due to injuries sustained from vaping, bringing the total to three.
State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says one person vaped a number of products including illegal THC and the other was known to vape nicotine in addition to unknown products. Both were over 50 years old.
"It's particularly important for people to avoid vaping anything containing illegal cannabis products as almost all of the Minnesotans who have developed these severe lung injuries have a history of vaping specifically illegal cannabis," she said.
Health officials across the U.S. are still determining the exact cause of the lung injuries, which is why vaping nicotine and following manufacturer's instructions and not products off the street is also discouraged.
"Everyone is putting their heads together," State Epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield said. "They're trying to do additional testing and looking at heating up product and not just looking at the chemicals in the product, but seeing does the product change when it's heated."
The mean age of of the 73 confirmed or probable cases in Minnesota is 26, but the age range is 15 to over 65. There are 1,300 cases nationwide with 28 deaths. Another 32 cases in Minnesota are being investigated.