Vaping-related illness has a new name: EVALI

(TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

There’s a new name for the vaping-related illness that has sickened hundreds of people recently: EVALI, or e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury. It was introduced by CDC officials in updated guidelines for physicians who may have to diagnose these injuries among their patients, and is a sign of how fast the agency’s investigation has progressed. Another troubling trend, the CDC shared, is how people who have been discharged after being treated for the illness are being readmitted shortly after — a handful of such patients came back between five and 55 days after their initial hospitalization. It’s unclear what’s causing this, but it left public health officials iterating their warnings against vaping. At last count, nearly 1,300 people across 49 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands have become ill, and 26 have died.