--- description: The death of a 15-year-old in Texas reportedly marks the youngest vaping-related fatality in the U.S. since the outbreak began last summer. title: 15-Year-Old Texas Teen's Death Is Nation's Youngest Vaping-Related Fatality in Current Outbreak image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Public Health](/tag/public-health/) ## Public Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 15-Year-Old Texas Teen's Death Is Nation's Youngest Vaping-Related Fatality in Current Outbreak ## Video: The Ongoing Story Behind the Netflix Documentary "Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul” [Watch (HLS stream): The Ongoing Story Behind the Netflix Documentary "Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul”](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/us8OUyv1.m3u8) (4:08)  _Published 2023-10-20. TIME health correspondent Jamie Ducharme talks about her book and documentary, Big Vape. The Rise and Fall of Juul_  by [Sanya Mansoor](/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2020 7:21 PM CUT  by [Sanya Mansoor](/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2020 7:21 PM CUT The death of a 15-year-old in Texas marks what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is calling the youngest [vaping](https://time.com/5549340/vaping-addiction-treatment/ "undefined")\-related fatality in the U.S. since the current outbreak began last year. Dallas County Health and Human Services officials reported the death of a teen “with a chronic underlying medical condition” who lived in Dallas County in a [press release](https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets/uploads/docs/hhs/press-releases/2019/DCHHS%20Reports%20first%20EVALI%20death%20for%202019.pdf "undefined") issued on New Year’s Eve and confirmed the teen’s age to TIME. The incident is Dallas County’s first death related to e-cigarette, or vaping, product-use associated lung injury, local officials said. “Reporting a death in a teen due to EVALI is so tragic,” said director of the agency, Dr. Philip Huang, in a statement. “We are seeing that severe lung damage, and even death, can occur with just short term use of these products.” ### More From TIME [The CDC said data suggests](https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic%5Finformation/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html "undefined") that the current outbreak began in June 2019\. As of Jan. 7, 2020, the CDC has received reports of [more than 2,600 hospitalized cases](https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic%5Finformation/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html "undefined") of EVALI — the official name for e-cigarette, or vaping, product-use associated lung injury — or deaths from 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fifty-seven deaths have been confirmed in 27 states and D.C. with ages ranging from 15 through 75, according to the CDC, which notes that more deaths are “currently under investigation.” Last month, the CDC announced that [vitamin E acetate](https://time.com/5753947/vaping-lung-disease-outbreak-peak/ "undefined") is a big reason for the country’s vaping-related lung illness outbreak, which it also indicated appears to be coming to an end. E-cigarettes remain illegal for those younger than 18 but the law has done little to stop teens from vaping in greater numbers. [Federal data](https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data%5Fstatistics/fact%5Fsheets/youth%5Fdata/tobacco%5Fuse/index.htm "undefined") notes that among middle and high school students, e-cigarette use rose from 3.6 million in 2018 to 5.4 million in 2019. [The New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/health/teen-vaping-death.html "undefined") reported that before the Texas teen’s death, the youngest reported vaping fatality was a 17-year-old who lived in the Bronx borough of New York City. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5763506/texas-teen-vaping-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5763506/texas-teen-vaping-death/"},"headline":"15-Year-Old Texas Teen's Death Is Nation's Youngest Vaping-Related Fatality in Current Outbreak","datePublished":"2020-01-12T19:21:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:02:33.599Z","description":"CDC says 57 deaths have been confirmed in 27 states and D.C. as of Jan. 7, 2020","url":"https://time.com/5763506/texas-teen-vaping-death/","keywords":["Public Health","Texas","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sanya Mansoor","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sanya-mansoor/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5763506/texas-teen-vaping-death/","name":"15-Year-Old Texas Teen's Death Is Nation's Youngest Vaping-Related Fatality in Current Outbreak"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Ongoing Story Behind the Netflix Documentary \"Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul”","description":"TIME health correspondent Jamie Ducharme talks about her book and documentary, Big Vape. 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