If your child suddenly has a sore throat, do you think you have a cold or a fire?
I think it's okay to drink some water or take some medicine, and I don't care too much.
But some time ago, there was a 5-year-old baby who almost died of a sore throat.
99% of parents ignore the disease – acute epiglottitis.
It is known as the "first killer" of entolaryngology, not only children, but also adults, and the incidence is high in winter and spring.
The initial symptoms are mostly sore throat, which can easily be ignored or misdiagnosed, resulting in suffocation death.
And it onset is very fast, from sore throat to difficulty breathing, it may be less than 2 hours.
Image source: Scientific Family Parenting Original
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Let's first look at where the epiglottis is:
The epiglottis is invisible to the naked eye on a daily basis, nor is it possible to use a tongue depressor, and can only be seen through a laryngoscope.
So what is it for?
Epiglottitis is normally open, but when we eat, we cover the trachea, avoid food choking into the trachea, and let the food enter the esophagus smoothly.
Once the epiglottis is infected, it will become inflamed and swollen, even 6-10 times larger, like a swollen ball, blocking the entrance to the trachea and causing suffocation.
What's even more dangerous is that its course is very fast, and someone has shared their experience online before, from sore throat to suffocation, just 2 hours.
Epiglottitis is mostly caused by bacterial, viral or fungal infections, and the most common infections in children are Haemophilus influenzae type B and Streptococcus.
Epiglottitis may also eventually be caused by ingestion of corrosive substances, thermal burns, and infections of other tissues around the site of epiglottis (e.g., acute tonsillitis, pharyngitis, inflammation of the oral cavity, etc.).
Most people with acute epiglottitis have symptoms of sore throat, difficulty swallowing, and within 24 hours, there will be inhalatory throat ringing, feeling a little breathless, unable to breathe.
Aspiratory laryngeal sound: 00:00/00:18
If the condition is severe, suffocation will occur within a few hours, accompanied by fever, chills, fatigue and so on.
Children may also drool, cannot lie flat due to poor breathing, and appear in a "tripod" position to expand tracheal breathing.
Does it feel a bit like acute laryngitis, And Klein would like to remind you:
Acute epiglottitis generally has no cough symptoms, while acute laryngitis has a barking cough (there is also a link to the article on acute laryngitis at the end of the article).
And the change in the sound of epiglottitis will be more pronounced (the sound is blurred or like eating a full mouthful of food), while laryngitis is mainly manifested as hoarseness.
But regardless of whether the child or the adult, once there are these 2 signs, go to the hospital as soon as possible:
Acute severe sore throat
Difficulty breathing of any kind
So is there any way to prevent this? There really is!
As mentioned in the previous section, children's epiglottitis is mostly caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B, streptococcus, etc.
Therefore, giving the baby Hib vaccine and Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine (that is, pneumonia vaccine) on time can greatly reduce the risk of infection.
At the end of the article, there is also an article dedicated to pneumonia vaccination, which can be seen by the decline.
But the vaccine is only for children, adult prevention look at these 4 points:
Seeing this, do you suddenly feel a little uncomfortable in your throat?
Don't scare yourself first, but if your throat starts to hurt severely without warning, or your sore throat doesn't get better for a long time, go to the hospital in time.
Especially when the child has a sore throat, do not be careless, pay attention to observation.
Once you have a feeling of holding your breath or not breathing well, go to the hospital quickly, don't delay!
If you still have questions, the comment area summons Keda, online answer yo ~