LONDON (Reuters) - Electronic cigarettes have taken an 18-year-old man to hospital in the US state of Illinois.

The young man said he started smoking when he was 16 years old on a daily basis, and began to suffer from nausea and vomiting significantly, thinking that he had the flu.

After the doctor's visit, the assessment showed that the lungs were severely damaged, making them look like lungs to a man in the 1970s.

The young man is one of 450 people in the United States who have developed mysterious respiratory diseases linked to smoking an electronic cigarette.

To date, six suspected e-cigarette deaths have been reported in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota and Oregon.

Scientists believe that oil derived from vitamin E may be responsible for lung damage.