BAGUIO CITY (PIA) -- The City Health Services Office (CHSO) expressed alarm on  the increasing use of vapes in the city especially among the youth.
 
Vape use in the city is now an epidemic, Dr. Donnabel Panes of the CHSO said, describing it as 'vapedemic'.
 
Panes said that based on a study in 2019, vape use in the city is just 1.9 percent but after three years, it increased to 5.1% in December 2022. Data show  that more males are e-cigarette smokers. Most of the vape users are  15-24 years old.
 
The challenge is how to empower schools, the teachers and parents on how to identify vape especially that it comes in various forms, some of which just look  like flash drive, Panes said.
 
"Kailangan po nating maging vigilant sa ating mga anak dahil 'di na po nila mabili 'yan sa Baguio dahil wala namang mga nagtitinda niyan, nabibili nila 'yan sa online or sa drop area," she said.
 

Panes explained that vape products contain propylene glycol which is not supposed to be inhaled. It also contains benzene that can cause cancer, acrolein that is dangerous to blood vessels, and  formalin, among others. The lungs, heart, and brain are the primary organs affected by vaping.
 
The Department of Health (DOH) has issued a memorandum to hospitals to capacitate their doctors on how to recognize cases of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury or EVALI.
 
"Ang definition ng EVALI sa amin, isang pasyente na pumunta na may shortness of breath, may cough, may difficulty of breathing at nag-vape ka in the past 90 days, you are included as part of the statistics already," Panes said. 
 
The first case of EVALI in the Philippines as confirmed by the DOH  was  a 16-year old girl from Visayas in 2019.
 
Based on the data of US Center for Control Disease in 2020, there were 2,807 cases of EVALI of which, 68 deaths were attributed to the said condition. (JDP/DEG-PIA CAR)