{"id":222,"date":"2015-12-10T16:22:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T16:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/?page_id=222"},"modified":"2023-08-20T22:10:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T22:10:51","slug":"3-11-epiglottitis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/lessons\/lesson-3-pediatric-emergencies\/section-iv-pediatric-emergencies\/3-11-epiglottitis\/","title":{"rendered":"3-11. EPIGLOTTITIS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Epiglottitis is a condition in which the epiglottis becomes inflamed.<\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0inflammation is caused by a bacterial infection of the patient&#8217;s epiglottis. The inflamed\u00a0epiglottis swells and becomes a &#8220;cherry-red&#8221; color, resulting in an obstructed airway.<\/p>\n<p>a. <strong>Signs\/Symptoms of Epiglottitis<\/strong>. Children who have epiglottitis are usually\u00a0over four years old. Signs and symptoms include the following:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(1) Pain on swallowing (dysphagia).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(2) Frequent drooling. The presence or absence of drooling is a way of\u00a0differentiating this condition from croup. The child with croup will not be drooling.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(3) High fever, perhaps.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(4) Respiratory distress.<\/p>\n<p>b. <strong>Treatment for Epiglottitis<\/strong>. Follow these procedures:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(1) Administer humidified oxygen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(2) Initiate an IV of dextrose in water at the rate of 5 ml per kilogram of the\u00a0child&#8217;s weight. DO NOT spend a lot of time on starting an IV. If there is a problem\u00a0inserting an IV, forget it and transport the patient to a hospital immediately!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(3) Let the child assume the position which is most comfortable for him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(4) Transport the child to a medical care facility immediately. Epiglottis can\u00a0only be treated in a medical facility. Often (50 percent of the cases), the condition\u00a0requires a tracheotomy or intubation.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CAUTION: Children with epiglottitis are in grave danger from airway obstruction.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>NEVER, NEVER, NEVER place an instrument in the mouth of a child\u00a0with epiglottis. Anything put in the throat will cause severe\u00a0laryngospasm, resulting in swelling which obstructs the airway.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>WARNING:\u00a0Epiglottitis is a medical emergency! The child must\u00a0be transported calmly and quickly to a hospital.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Epiglottitis is a condition in which the epiglottis becomes inflamed. This\u00a0inflammation is caused by a bacterial infection of the patient&#8217;s epiglottis. The inflamed\u00a0epiglottis swells and becomes a &#8220;cherry-red&#8221; color, resulting in an obstructed airway. a. Signs\/Symptoms of Epiglottitis. Children who have epiglottitis are usually\u00a0over four years old. Signs and symptoms include the following: (1) Pain &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/lessons\/lesson-3-pediatric-emergencies\/section-iv-pediatric-emergencies\/3-11-epiglottitis\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">3-11. EPIGLOTTITIS<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":44,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-222","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222\/revisions\/574"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/ob-ped\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}