{"id":51279,"date":"2025-04-25T21:49:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T01:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hancockhealth.org\/mayo-health-library\/croup\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:57:22","slug":"croup","status":"publish","type":"mayo","link":"https:\/\/www.hancockhealth.org\/fr\/mayo-health-library\/croup\/","title":{"rendered":"Croup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"container mx-auto   wordpress-block wordpress- core-\">\n<p>Croup refers to an infection of the upper airway, which becomes narrow, making it harder to        breathe. Croup also causes a cough that sounds like barking.<\/p>\n<p>The cough and other signs and symptoms of croup are the result of swelling and irritation        around the voice box (larynx), windpipe (trachea) and bronchial tubes (bronchi). When a        cough forces air through this narrowed passageway, the swollen vocal cords produce a noise        like a seal barking. Taking a breath often produces a high-pitched whistling sound called        stridor.<\/p>\n<p>Croup most often occurs in younger children. It usually isn&#8217;t serious. Most children can be        treated for croup at home.<\/p>\n<p>Croup often begins as an ordinary cold. If there&#8217;s enough swelling, irritation and coughing, a child can develop:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Loud barking cough that&#8217;s made worse by crying and coughing, as well as anxiety and distress, setting up a cycle of worsening symptoms.<\/li>\n<li>Fever.<\/li>\n<li>Hoarse voice.<\/li>\n<li>Noisy or labored breathing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Symptoms of croup are often worse at night and usually last for 3 to 5 days.<\/p>\n<p>Contact your child&#8217;s health care provider if symptoms are severe, worsen, last longer than 3 to 5 days or aren&#8217;t responding to home treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Seek immediate medical attention if your child:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Makes noisy, high-pitched breathing sounds when breathing both in and out.<\/li>\n<li>Makes high-pitched breathing sounds when not crying or upset.<\/li>\n<li>Begins drooling or has problems swallowing.<\/li>\n<li>Seems anxious, upset and restless or extra tired and has no energy.<\/li>\n<li>Breathes at a faster rate than usual.<\/li>\n<li>Struggles to breathe.<\/li>\n<li>Develops a blue or gray tint around the nose, in or around the mouth, or on the fingernails.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Croup is usually caused by a viral infection, most often a parainfluenza virus.<\/p>\n<p>Your child may get a virus by breathing infected respiratory droplets coughed or sneezed into the air. Virus particles in these droplets may also survive on toys and other surfaces. If your child touches a surface with a virus on it, and then touches the eyes, nose or mouth, an infection may follow.<\/p>\n<p>Children between 6 months and 3 years of age have the highest risk of getting croup. Because children have small airways, they&#8217;re likely to have more symptoms with croup. Croup rarely occurs in children older than 6 years of age.<\/p>\n<p>Most cases of croup are mild. In a small number of children, the airway swells enough to cause problems with breathing. Rarely, a bacterial infection of the windpipe can occur in addition to the viral infection. This can result in trouble breathing and requires emergency medical care.<\/p>\n<p>Only a small number of children seen in the emergency room for croup require a stay in the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>To prevent croup, take the same steps you use to prevent colds and flu.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Frequent hand-washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is the most important step.<\/li>\n<li>Keep your child away from anyone who&#8217;s sick.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage your child to cough or sneeze into the elbow.<\/li>\n<li>Clean frequently touched surfaces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To prevent more-serious infections that may cause croup, keep your child&#8217;s vaccinations up to date. The diphtheria and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines offer protection from some of the rarest &mdash; but most dangerous &mdash; upper airway infections. There isn&#8217;t a vaccine yet that protects against parainfluenza viruses.<\/p>\n<p>Croup is usually diagnosed by a health care provider. The provider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Observes your child&#8217;s breathing.<\/li>\n<li>Listens to your child&#8217;s chest with a stethoscope.<\/li>\n<li>Examines your child&#8217;s throat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sometimes X-rays or other tests are used to rule out other possible illnesses.<\/p>\n<p>Most children with croup can be treated at home. Still, croup can be scary, especially if your child needs a visit to the health care provider&#8217;s office, emergency room or hospital. Treatment is usually based on how severe the symptoms are.<\/p>\n<h3>Comfort measures<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to comfort and calm your child because crying and distress can worsen airway swelling, making it harder to breathe. Hold your child, sing lullabies or read quiet stories. Offer a favorite blanket or toy. Speak in a soothing voice.<\/p>\n<p>Also, make sure that your child drinks plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.<\/p>\n<h3>Medicines<\/h3>\n<p>Your child&#8217;s health care provider may prescribe these medicines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Corticosteroid.<\/b> A corticosteroid &mdash; such as dexamethasone &mdash; may be given to reduce swelling in the airway. Symptoms will usually start to improve within a few hours. Your child may take pills over several days. Or your child may get a single dose of dexamethasone as a shot because of its long-lasting effects.<\/li>\n<li><b>Epinephrine.<\/b> Epinephrine is effective in reducing airway swelling with more-severe symptoms. The medicine may be given in an inhaled form using a nebulizer. It&#8217;s fast acting, but its effects wear off quickly. Your child likely will need to be observed in the emergency room for several hours to see if a second dose is needed before going home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>A stay in the hospital<\/h3>\n<p>For severe croup, your child may need to spend time in a hospital to be monitored and receive more treatments.<\/p>\n<p>Croup often runs its course within 3 to 5 days. In the meantime, keep your child comfortable with a few simple measures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Stay calm.<\/b> Comfort or distract your child &mdash; cuddle, read a book or play a quiet game. Crying makes breathing more difficult.<\/li>\n<li><b>Provide humidified or cool air.<\/b> Although there&#8217;s no evidence of benefit from these practices, many parents believe that humid air or cool air helps a child&#8217;s breathing. For moist air, you can use a humidifier. You can also sit with the child in a bathroom filled with steam created by running hot water from the shower. If it&#8217;s cool outside, you can open a window for your child to breathe the cool air.<\/li>\n<li><b>Hold your child in a comfortable upright position.<\/b> Hold your child on your lap, or place your child in a favorite chair or infant seat. Sitting upright may make breathing easier.<\/li>\n<li><b>Offer fluids.<\/b> For babies, breast milk or formula is fine. For older children, soup or frozen fruit pops may be soothing.<\/li>\n<li><b>Encourage rest.<\/b> Sleep can help your child fight the infection.<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b>Try a fever reducer.<\/b> For treatment of fever or pain, consider giving your child infants&#8217; or children&#8217;s over-the-counter fever and pain medicines such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) as a safer alternative to aspirin. Read the directions carefully for dosing. Ask your health care provider about the right dose if you&#8217;re not sure.<\/p>\n<p>Use caution when giving aspirin to children or teenagers. Though aspirin is approved for use in children older than age 3, children and teenagers recovering from chickenpox or flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin. This is because aspirin has been linked to Reye&#8217;s syndrome, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, in such children.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Skip the cold medicines.<\/b> Cold preparations available without a prescription aren&#8217;t recommended for children of any age. And they can be harmful in children under than 2 years old. Plus, nonprescription cough medicines won&#8217;t help croup.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your child&#8217;s cough may improve during the day, but don&#8217;t be surprised if it returns at night. You may want to sleep near your child or even in the same room so that you can take quick action if symptoms worsen.<\/p>\n<p>In most cases of croup, your child won&#8217;t need to see a health care provider. However, if symptoms are severe or aren&#8217;t responding to home treatment, you should call your provider.<\/p>\n<h3>What you can do<\/h3>\n<p>Before your appointment, make a list of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Your child&#8217;s symptoms,<\/b> including how long they have been occurring and what, if anything, makes them better or worse.<\/li>\n<li><b>Any medicine your child is taking,<\/b> including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbs and other supplements, and their doses.<\/li>\n<li><b>Questions to ask your child&#8217;s health care provider.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What to expect from your doctor<\/h3>\n<p>Your child&#8217;s health care provider will likely ask a number of questions to help determine the best course of treatment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are your child&#8217;s symptoms?<\/li>\n<li>Has your child had a fever or difficulty swallowing?<\/li>\n<li>How long has your child been experiencing symptoms?<\/li>\n<li>Has your child&#8217;s cough become worse over time? If so, how rapidly?<\/li>\n<li>Have you noticed a pattern to your child&#8217;s cough? For instance, does it get worse at night?<\/li>\n<li>Has your child had croup in the past?<\/li>\n<li>Has your child recently been exposed to other sick children?<\/li>\n<li>Does your child have any other medical conditions?<\/li>\n<li>Are your child&#8217;s vaccinations up to date?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your health care provider will ask other questions based on your answers and your child&#8217;s symptoms and needs. Preparing and anticipating questions will help you make the most of your time with the provider.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This upper airway infection makes it harder to breathe and causes a barking cough. It involves swelling around the voice box, windpipe and bronchial tubes.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[1686,1685,1682],"class_list":["post-51279","mayo","type-mayo","status-publish","hentry","tag-anatomical-structure","tag-condition","tag-person-group-concept","content_type-diseases-conditions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Croup - Hancock Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hancockhealth.org\/fr\/mayo-health-library\/croup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Croup - Hancock Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This upper airway infection makes it harder to breathe and causes a barking cough. 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