Vaping for just a matter of days is enough to harm the lungs' most delicate tissue and leave it more vulnerable to viral infection, researchers at a leading respiratory hospital in the United States, National Jewish Health, have said.
The researchers exposed human lung cells to e-cigarette vapour alone, and separately tested vapour exposure followed by infection with a respiratory virus.
Within 24 hours, the e-cigarette vapour damaged the protective barrier of the distal lung – the deep, delicate region where oxygen passes into the bloodstream – triggered cellular stress, impaired cells’ internal process for clearing damaged components, slowed cell growth and repair, and increased cell death, the study found.
Signs of lung stress persisted ten days after a five-day exposure period to the e-cigarette vapour ended, according to the findings, published in medical journal JCI Insight.
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