BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts health officials say a second state resident has died from a vaping-related lung illness.

Marylou Sudders, secretary of Health and Human Services, told WGBH-FM on Wednesday that the second resident was a woman in her 40s from Middlesex County. The state previously said a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County died of a vaping-related illness.

MA Health and Human Services Secretary @MLSudders tells @wgbhnews Morning Edition a 2nd person has died from vaping related lung illness.@GBHJoe @MassGovernor pic.twitter.com/i8MJ3wn77l — Shelby El Otmani (@Shelotmani) October 30, 2019

No additional information was released.

Sudders says both deaths were attributed to the use of nicotine vaping products.

She says the state has had 204 suspected cases of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses, 61 of which were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as confirmed or probable.


Sudders and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker defended the state’s four-month ban on the sale of all vaping products, which has been challenged in court.