Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Research on the health impacts of e-cigarettes has focused on non-infectious manifestations. Given their enclosed plastic design and temperature fluctuations, we hypothesized that e-cigarettes are colonized by pathogenic microbes, thereby contributing to lung disease in users. Using sequencing and culture techniques of the devices and mouthwash of 25 users, we found only a small subset of mouthpieces to contain bacteria, whereas most were abundantly colonized with fungi that were distinct from the oral mycobiota, including the genera Rhodotorula, Aureobasidium, Cystobasidium , and Meyerozyma . Chronic exposure to the most frequently isolated pathogen, Cystobasidium minutum , resulted in mucus hypersecretion and obstructive lung disease in mice, characteristics of chronic bronchitis. We conclude that e-cigarettes are frequently colonized with fungal organisms capable of causing lung disease.
Authors: Katy Deitz, Zifan Zhao, Yana Goddard, Arantxa V. Lazarte, Borna Mehrad, Jason Smith
Institution: University of Florida
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G6951825832, G9000033711, G9000217588
OpenAlex ID: W4412848573