There’s been a staggeringly quick increase in the rates of vaping among youth in Canada, which have more than doubled between 2017 and 2018.

That’s according to Public Health Physician at the BC CDC, Dr. Michael Schwandt, who was speaking on NL Newsday, after officials confirmed the one illness in Canada this week.

“If there are more cases and we hope not, we would attend closely to them to see if there are any patterns locally that we can be aware of and in turn roll that data up to our federal colleagues who with greater numbers might be able to analyze and find patterns to form both education and healthy public policy that might be able to prevent the persistence of this outbreak,” said Dr. Schwandt.

He was asked if officials know why the number of illnesses appear to be on the rise.

“It does seem to be a matter of the actual ingredient in the vaping product that’s been inhaled,” he added. “So we would recommend that people who are involved with vaping do monitor their symptoms.”

“If they are experiencing shortness of breath, a cough or a chest pain, to be especially attentive to that. If they are having any concerns to discontinue vaping and to seek medical attention.”

He says health agencies will be monitoring the situation very closely.

“Even aside from the potential for these very severe health outcomes, that we are seeing in these cases, the potential for long term dependence on nicotine is there.”

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 530 confirmed cases of a vaping related illness in Americans, most of whom are between 18 and 24 years of age. There were also eight deaths reported in the US.