Nearly 2,300 vaping illnesses, 47 deaths reported nationwide

Tony Dejak/Associated Press/Associated Press

Nearly 2,300 vaping-related illnesses have been reported nationwide and at least 47 people have died, federal health officials announced Thursday.

The numbers were part of the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released each Thursday. Because of Thanksgiving, the next report is expected to come out on Dec. 5.

As of Wednesday, 2,290 confirmed and probable vaping-related illnesses have been reported in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Alaska remains the only state that has not reported a vaping-related illness.

The 47 deaths have been reported across 25 states and D.C., with three deaths reported in Massachusetts. The median age of the people who have died is 53, with the youngest person being 17 and the oldest being 75.

The majority of people diagnosed with vaping-related illnesses have been young. As of Nov. 5, 77 percent of people with the illneses were under the age of 35, and 15 percent were under the age of 18.

In Massachusetts, health officials reported 81 illnesses to the CDC as of Wednesday, up from 73 the week before. Thirty-nine of the cases in Massachusetts have been under the age of 30. Twenty have been patients who are ages 30 to 49, and another 22 have been people who are 50 or older.

The majority of cases in Massachusetts continue to involve THC-containing products, with 50 of the patients reporting that they consumed products with THC. Thirty-two of them said they consumed only THC-containing products; the others consumed nicotine products, too.