GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina hospital is reporting the state's first death linked to vaping.
Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro says the death occurred on Wednesday, but spokesman Doug Allred couldn't provide any additional details on Thursday.
[ALSO READ: Fort Mill teen suffers severe lung illness reportedly linked to vaping]
Allred says the hospital has had eight cases of vaping-related illness since August, including the unidentified person who died.
Last week, Cone Health confirmed it had treated at least six patients with a severe lung illness associated with electronic-cigarette use.
Andrew Doss, of Mooresville, is one of 805 confirmed or probable cases in 46 states.
Doss, 35, started vaping to quit smoking.
"We all think it's safer or as safe as cigarettes, and I don't think it is," he told Channel 9.
He got a strange cough about 10 months after vaping.
"I was sweating," Doss said. "I had a huge amount of chest pain.
Doctors said he had a 30% lung collapse.
"In her opinion, it was due to vaping," Doss said.
He said the information available to the public does not show how dangerous vaping is.
[ALSO READ: State health department confirms first vaping-related death in Georgia]
Dr. Murali Ramaswamy, director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program for LeBauer Health Care at Cone Health, said that in nearly all the cases, patients told doctors they had used THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's mind-altering effects, in the vaping devices.
Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:
- Blue Cross CEO of NC resigns following DWI, child abuse arrest
- Man in viral 2017 Myrtle Beach shooting video stabbed to death
- Arrest made after manhunt for suspect wanted in 2 shootings, carjacking
- FORECAST: Temps will push record highs as heatwave refuses to relent
- Toddlers left in car outside Northlake Mall while women shoplifted, CMPD says
Associated Press