Connecticut has seen its first reported death associated with the outbreak of lung illness related to vaping.

The patient, who was between the ages of 30 and 39, died last week, the state Department of Public Health announced Thursday. DPH did not release the gender of the patient but said the person had been hospitalized with multiple medical conditions.

Seven Connecticut residents, including the one who died, were reported ill last week with lung injuries possibly related to using e-cigarettes or vaping, DPH said in the announcement. Altogether, the state so far has seen 25 cases of the mysterious illness, which is being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clinicians and health departments across the country.

“Sadly, one of our residents with vaping-related lung injury has died,” DPH Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell said in the release. “Our prayers go out to the family. We are working with the CDC along with health departments across the country to find out what the specific causes of these injuries are to educate the public by providing the information needed to mitigate the risk of illness and death.”

The cases were reported in seven counties:

[naviga:ul]

[naviga:li]Fairfield has reported 11 cases[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]New Haven, 8[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]New London, 2[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Hartford, 1[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Litchfield, 1[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Tolland, 1[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Windham, 1[/naviga:li]

[/naviga:ul]

The department said it does not release town-level data on vaping injury reports. Five of the cases involved persons under 18 years of age; 13 of the cases involved persons 18 to 34 years of age; and seven of the cases were persons 35 years of age or older, DPH said. One patient remained in the hospital Thursday.

"The news of Connecticut's first known vaping-related death is heartbreaking — all the more because it was entirely preventable," U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, said in a statement Thursday night. "For years, the FDA has abdicated their regulatory responsibility by allowing dangerous e-cigarette products to remain on the market without any review of their health effects. Their job is to protect the public's health, and there is no greater failure than today's tragic news. FDA needs to take these products off the market immediately."

As chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, DeLauro will be holding a hearing on Oct. 16 to examine the increasing risk of e-cigarette use on public health.

“I am asking Connecticut residents to not use e-cigarette or vaping products,” Coleman-Mitchell said in the DPH announcement. “If you choose to continue vaping, you should not buy vaping products off the street or from another person, including a friend, or modify or add any other unregulated substances to these products.”

Youth, young adults, and women who are pregnant should not use e-cigarette or vaping products.

U.S. health officials continue to look for patterns in the hundreds of serious lung injuries reported in people who use electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices. Here's a look at what we know so far about the outbreak and the investigation, as reported by the Associated Press:

Who is getting sick?

The latest tally is 1,080 confirmed and probable cases in 48 states and one U.S. territory, including more than a dozen deaths. Health officials say 70 percent of the patients have been male. More than a third are younger than 21, with patients ranging in age from young teens to 75 years old.

The CDC also reports 18 deaths have been confirmed in 15 states, though that does not include the Connecticut fatality. DHP said it worked with CDC experts to confirm the death was related to the national outbreak.

What vaping products are involved?

No single device, ingredient or additive has been identified. Most of the patients say they vaped products containing THC, the high-producing ingredient in marijuana. Others say they vaped both THC and nicotine. A smaller group reported they vaped only products containing nicotine.

What are the symptoms?

Patients are coming into hospitals with cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue and vomiting. Imaging tests show lung injuries and doctors can’t find infections or other causes.

In Connecticut, symptoms among cases included shortness of breath, fever, cough, vomiting and diarrhea. Other symptoms reported by some patients included headache, weight loss and chest pain.

How serious are these illnesses?

Many of the reports involve severe, life-threatening illnesses in previously healthy people. Many patients received oxygen. Some needed to be put on breathing machines. Antibiotics didn't work, and it's not clear yet whether steroid drugs helped.

“We don’t know how well people will recover from (the lung injuries) and the damage may be permanent,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said Thursday.

What are officials doing?

Even before the outbreak, schools were struggling to crack down on vaping because the devices are easy for students to hide. More than 1 in 4 high school students reported vaping in the past month in the most recent government survey. Health officials have warned for years that the popularity of flavored vape products among kids could result in lifelong tobacco use.

With concern about teen vaping already high, the health crisis spurred some states to stop the sale of flavored e-cigarettes or raise the minimum age for buying e-cigarettes to 21. Massachusetts suspended sales of all vape products for four months, a move that’s been challenged in court. The White House announced plans to ban flavored vape products.

On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Juul and five other vaping companies to hand over information about how they market e-cigarettes.

Meanwhile, criminal investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are focusing on the supply chain to find out what's making people sick.

What's the latest research?

It’s not final proof, but experts who examined lung tissue from 17 patients say the damage looks like chemical burns, similar to what would be seen in people exposed to poisonous gases. Dr. Brandon Larsen of Mayo Clinic Arizona says he believes toxic fumes are causing at least some of the illnesses. The study was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Incomplete lab testing by FDA continues to find THC and vitamin E acetate, a thickener, in some of the liquids tested, but Schuchat cautioned: “There may be a lot of different nasty things in e-cigarettes and vaping products and they may cause different harms in the lung.”

How do Americans view the health dangers of vaping and smoking?

Americans believe nicotine is a bigger public health threat than THC, according to a survey by researchers at NORC at the University of Chicago. Nearly all adults — 90 percent — believe smoking cigarettes is harmful, and 81 percent believe vaping nicotine products is harmful.

Fewer see health dangers in marijuana with 65 percent saying vaping THC is harmful and 58 percent of adults saying smoking marijuana that contains THC is harmful. The nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 adults was conducted Sept. 19-24.

What do we know about e-cigarette safety?

Health experts generally consider e-cigarettes to be less harmful than traditional cigarettes because they don't contain all the cancer-causing byproducts of burning tobacco. And some countries -- including the United Kingdom -- have fully embraced vaping as a public health tool to reduce the deadly toll of traditional tobacco.

U.S. health regulators have generally taken a more cautious approach. In part, that’s because there is virtually no long-term research on the health effects of the vapor produced when e-cigarettes heat a nicotine solution.

The FDA, which regulates nicotine-vaping products, has set a deadline of next May for all e-cigarette manufacturers to submit their products for review. Under FDA rules, only products that represent a net benefit to public health will be allowed to remain on the market.

What's the best advice right now?

Health officials are urging people to stop vaping, particularly products that contain THC, and to get medical care if they have trouble breathing or chest pain after vaping.

Schuchat acknowledged a concern about black market products. She said states that license marijuana dispensaries are taking steps to make sure the products they regulate are safe, but she added: “With all the data I've been seeing, I don't know what’s safe right now.”

More information about the investigation can be found on CDC's webpage, bit.ly/CDCvapeinjury.

AP writers Carla K. Johnson, Mike Stobbe and Matthew Perrone and Day Staff Writer Jacinta Meyers contributed to this report.