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http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eprp/Health%20Alerts/CDPHPulmonaryDiseaseandVaping081219.pdf

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a health alert on August 9
regarding a cluster of previously healthy adults with severe acute pulmonary disease
who required hospitalization and respiratory support in a hospital in Kings County, CA.
These cases, all identified since June 2019, appear to be related to vaping cannabis or
cannabidiol (CBD) oils. At this time, no infectious etiology has been determined. Similar
clusters among teens and young adults are being investigated in Wisconsin and Illinois.
CDPH is working with the Centers for Disease Control to identify if there are common
factors

Since June 2019, at least 7 cases of severe acute pulmonary disease in previously
healthy adults were reported from a Kings County hospital. Cases were among
residents of multiple counties. The patients presented with progressive respiratory
distress, sometimes initially diagnosed with pneumonia or bronchitis, and some with
preceding fevers and gastrointestinal symptoms. All cases failed to respond to an initial
course of antibiotic treatment. All patients required admission to the hospital with
significant respiratory support, including high-flow oxygen, bilevel positive airway
pressure (BIPAP), or intubation with mechanical ventilation. Diagnoses included
pneumonitis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Patients have improve with systemic steroids. Evaluation for infectious etiologies has been negative to date in
all patients.

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Quote:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/counterfeit-thc-vapes-cdc-vaping-health-alert-875931/?fbclid=IwAR2PTbEW7aV5p3NtWOoEN-oLCwhG56RIXFiqL5NeUy2-8wwbkBfCHYLL5NA

an 18-year-old male patient showed up to NYU Winthrop Hospital in Long Island complaining about chest pain, nausea, fever, and shortness of breath. Initially, doctors thought he had pneumonia, due to his X-rays showing “haziness” in the lungs. Within 48 hours, says Melodi Pirzada, chief of pediatric pulmonology at the hospital, the patient’s condition worsened and he was sent to the ICU. There he was diagnosed with ARDS, a condition associated with acute lung injury. He was connected to a breathing tube and placed in a medically induced coma for one week.

The doctors were baffled as to how a healthy 18-year-old could become so sick, until the patient’s mother showed up at the hospital with something she’d dug up from her son’s wastebasket. It was a vaporizer cartridge with the label TKO Extracts, a licensed company based in California that sells THC products; the cartridge was later confirmed to be a counterfeit version of the company’s product, Pirzada says.......


........Just one day later, a second patient showed up with completely different symptoms, including various nodules in the lungs; the 19-year-old suffered from coughing and chest pain, and had lost so much weight in the span of just two weeks that doctors initially suspected he had cancer. When a biopsy ruled that out, the patient said that he too had been using THC cartridges for the past three months, all of which had been purchased on the black market........


.....according to a spokesperson from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). On August 12th, the CDPH released a health alert regarding a “cluster” of at least seven healthy adults in Kings County, California, all of whom had been admitted to hospitals between July and August 2019, and all of whom had presented with symptoms of severe acute pulmonary disease, including coughing and shortness of breath, and in some cases fever and vomiting. All seven of these cases — including an additional one reported following media coverage of the initial press release — were linked to THC vapes that had been purchased off the black market....


.....some common contaminants, according to the lab tests DankbustersOfficial has conducted alongside third-party cannabis testing company BelLabs, include pesticides like myclobutanil, a fungicide that, when vaporized, converts into hydrogen cyanide, a substance that is extremely toxic when inhaled and was used as a chemical weapon by the French army during World War I. There are also concerns that “heavy metals, such as lead, from the cartridge and its heating coils may also contaminate the products....

....Lab testing of Pirzada’s patient’s cartridge revealed that it tested positive for not just THC, but also vitamin E. If inhaled, oils like Vitamin E can cause lipoid pneumonitis, a rare condition that results from fat particles being inhaled into the lungs, says Pirzada. When she submitted the results to the Department of Health, it informed her that there were two other cases of THC cartridges testing positive for vitamin E oil.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/counterfeit-thc-vapes-cdc-vaping-health-alert-875931/?fbclid=IwAR2PTbEW7aV5p3NtWOoEN-oLCwhG56RIXFiqL5NeUy2-8wwbkBfCHYLL5NA

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Quote:

Soluble in common organic solvents, e.g. ketones, esters, alcohols and aromatic hydrocarbons, all 50 to 100 g/L. Insoluble in aliphatic hydrocarbons.

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