A US woman nearly died after developing crispy lungs from vaping while sick with the flu.In December 2025 Kara Mullins’ life was changed forever when she caught the the respiratory illness from her eight-year-old son.At first the mum-of-four went about her life as normal, experiencing ‘typical’ flu symptoms such as feeling ‘feverish and disoriented’, however her health continued to deteriorate after the next couple of days, leading to her being hospitalised.”I barely remember being in the emergency room,” Kara recalled. “I was admitted straight to the ICU, I don’t remember much of anything. After four days I continued to get worse.”he 49-year-old was then placed on a ventilator and placed in a medically induced coma as her condition deteriorated.

She remained unconscious for a further week before being brought out of her coma, where she would learn that vaping was likely the cause of her health complications.a lifelong smoker, Kara had taken up vaping four years ago as a ‘healthier’ alternative and would go through a vape pod every couple of days. She continued to vape while sick with the flu, which doctors believe contributed to the severity of her illness.”From what I’ve been told, what the vape does, because of the oils, puts a residue on your lungs and makes them crispy and that’s what caused the damage,” she explained.According to John Hopkins Medicine, when a person inhales vape smoke the lungs are coated with ‘potentially harmful chemicals’. “We think that some of the vaporized elements of the oil are getting deep down into the lungs and causing an inflammatory response,” Stephen Broderick explained to the health site.Combined with the inflammation which occurs when a person is fighting of a viral infection such as the flu and Kara’s lungs were under extra strain.”Because of the inflammation that I had, the doctors told my husband smoking the vape caused my lungs to tear because they weren’t expanding like a normal person’s,” she said.