電子煙真的很危險

Why E-Cigarettes Are So Dangerous

電子煙真的很危險

Nearly two dozen people—mostly young adults—have now been hospitalized with severe breathing difficulties as a result of vaping.

二十多人——大多都是年輕人——因爲抽電子煙導致呼吸嚴重困難，現已住院。

According to NBC News, a total of 22 cases have been reported: four in Minnesota, 12 in Wisconsin, and six in Illinois—up from 14 reported cases in Wisconsin and Illinois in early August.

NBC新聞指出，目前共有22例案件報道，明尼蘇達州4起，威斯康星州12起，伊利諾伊州6起——其中，威斯康星州和伊利諾伊州僅在八月初就有14人因爲呼吸問題被送入醫院。

Even more concerning: Doctors don't know for sure what exactly is causing these hospitalizations. Per NBC News, it's unclear what type of e-cigarette devices the people were using, what they were inhaling, and where they purchased the devices or e-liquids in the first place.

更令人擔憂的是：醫生尚不清楚導致這些人住院的確切原因。據NBC新聞表示，目前還不清楚這些人抽的電子煙的品牌和型號，也不知道這些設備和煙油的購買地。

In an August press release from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WDHS), the admitted patients experienced symptoms like shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, cough, nausea, and weight loss—and NBC News notes that four patients in Wisconsin were hospitalized with what they initially thought was pneumonia. The department said that while the severity varied among patients, some cases were so bad that they require breathing assistance.

威斯康星州衛生服務部（WDHS）在8月發佈的新聞稿中表示，住院患者出現呼吸短促、疲勞、胸痛、咳嗽、噁心和體重減輕等症狀——NBC新聞指出，4位來自威斯康星州的住院病人一開始以爲自己患了肺炎。該部門表示，雖然患者的嚴重程度不一，但有些人的情況非常糟糕，甚至不得不使用呼吸輔助設備。

One patient, Wisconsin man in his mid-20s, was even put in a medically-induced coma as a result of lung damage from vaping, according to Fox 6 Now, a Wisconsin-based news channel. (It's believed, however, that specific incident may have been caused by a vape cartridge containing THC—the main psychoactive compound in marijuana; a trend that hasn't been seen in the other Wisconsin and Illinois cases).

根據威斯康星州新聞頻道Fox 6 Now的報道，威斯康星州一位25歲的年輕患者由於抽電子煙導致肺部受損，而被醫生誘導昏迷。（然而，也可能是因爲電子煙筒中含有四氫大麻酚所致——這是大麻中的主要精神活性物質；但在威斯康星州和伊利諾伊州的其他住院案例中，並未發現這一趨勢）。

"Vaping among teens has increased dramatically over the last several years," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike wrote in a press release. While the short- and long-term effects of vaping are still being researched, these recent hospitalizations heighten the need for parents talk with their teens about vaping and for both to understand the consequences and potential dangers of vaping.

伊利諾伊州公共衛生部主任恩戈齊·埃齊克（Ngozi Ezike）博士在一份新聞稿中寫道：“過去幾年裏，抽電子煙的青少年人數急劇增加。”雖然研究員仍在研究抽電子煙的短期/長期影響，但近期的住院事件強調了父母與孩子談論電子煙的必要性，此外，父母和孩子都應瞭解抽電子煙的後果和潛在危險。

Of course, the Midwest isn't alone in this vaping increase: According to a 2018 report from the surgeon general, more than 3.6 million U.S. youth, including 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middle school students, use e-cigarettes regularly. Unfortunately, teens are even more likely to reap the consequences of e-cigarettes than adults.

當然，抽電子煙人數增長這一現象並不僅存在於美國中西部：根據2018年外科醫生的報告，360多萬美國青年人，包括五分之一的高中生和二十分之一的中學生，經常抽電子煙。不幸的是，抽電子煙對青少年產生的影響或許比成年人更大。