When my two-year-old coughed a little recently, I thought it was time to start on the cough syrup and bring out the ear thermometer. Since there was no fever as the day progressed, I was optimistic that this was a mild viral infection that would clear in a couple of days. Late that evening I was jolted out of complacence. Our son had started shivering and gasping for air; he was running a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit. He was also coughing in a peculiar way, best described like a dog�s bark.
My husband and I rushed him to hospital, and the doctor who examined him heard the barking cough and diagnosed it as croup, inflammation of the upper airways that include the voice box and the windpipe.
Our son was prescribed a dose of steroid medication to reduce the inflammation that was responsible for his breathing difficulty and the funny cough.
As parents of young children inevitably know, children between six months and three years are susceptible to a host of upper and lower respiratory illnesses in this season. �You should expect at least six-eight episodes of such infections per year,� says Meena Malkani, consultant paediatrician, Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai. The upper respiratory infections include rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, epiglottitis, otitis media and croup. Often but not always, infection in the nasal passages (rhinitis) can lead to an infection in the throat (laryngitis) and then the ear (otitis media). Epiglottitis is infection of the tissue that covers the trachea (windpipe). These infections can also progress lower down the respiratory system and cause diseases like bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Read More
Sujata Kelkar Shetty, PhD, writes on public health issues and is a research scientist trained at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, US.