Croup- flu- allergies- ??

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ds2 just had croup. Ds1 has had croup several times in his life. We were doing some more reading about it online (I had exhausted the helpful bits in my child care books) and one site claimed that it could be avoided with the flu vaccine. So, of course dh tried to guilt trip me about not having gotten the baby (14m) the flu shot. However, I reminded him that ds1 had gotten the flu shot every year that he had croup. I had never heard of this connection before. Has anyone else?

My mom is convinced that she has never met a child that has had bouts of croup and then did not later in life have allergies. So far ds1 is holding true to her theory as he has seasonal allergies. If your kids have had croup do they also have allergies?

Just curious about these possible connections I have heard and would be interested to hear any insight/ opinions. :)

Beth

[o_mom]

We get croup here all the time. DS1 STILL gets it 1-2 times a year at age 5. No allergies at all, though we have never had him tested since he has no symptoms. DH had croup every year until he was 12 (according to MIL) and no allergies.

I have read everything I can find on croup as we deal with it on a very regular basis. Croup is a symptom. It falls in the same category as runny nose, watery eyes, coughing, etc. It is not a disease. Croup is caused by a narrowing of the airway due to swelling in the throat. The amount of swelling that would simply be a sore throat in an adult can cause croup in kids since children have smaller diameter airways.

The flu shot could, in theory, prevent croup caused by the flu, but not really any other causes. There are some viruses more likely to cause croup (such as parainflueza, no relation to the flu shot) but there are also some kids more prone to it. I have decided at this point that my kids just have narrower than average airways (and it's DH's fault ;)) so they get it more frequently.

On the allergy front... some researchers divide croup into two categories - croup with wheeze and croup without wheeze. Croup is the noise you hear on inhaling, wheeze is the noise on exhale - they have two different origins. Croup with wheeze is related to asthma later in life, but croup without wheeze is not. Since asthma, excema and allergies run together, it could be predictive. The way I see it is that if kids get wheeze with a cold (with or without croup), they probably have undiagnosed reactive airway disease and that is what becomes asthma later.

[lablover]

I think that there are several different viruses that can cause croup. My DD just got over some nasty weeklong virus that first presented as croup. She was 100% healthy when I put her to bed 90 minutes before it started, so I'm not certain it wasn't linked to an allergy of some sort (long story but she was swimming in a pool that evening). She has had croup-like episodes a couple of times prior to that and I'm pretty sure they were triggered by allergies (the croup episode would only last one night). I'm learning it is called spasmodic croup. She has lots of allergies (indoor, outdoor, food) and asthma.

DS has had episodes of croup every year - at 5, this is the first year that he hasn't had it. He may have an amoxicillin allergy (we are assuming he does), and he had a mild egg allergy, but no environmental allergies as of yet.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Ds2 has been hospitalized with croup when he was younger. It was scary and everything happened so fast.
When he was 3 he tested positive for every environmental allergy under the sun. Along with allergies, he has awful excema and asthma.
Since moving out of the South, ds has gotten croup a lot less. But he still gets it about 2 times in the fall and spring.

[brittone2]

Croup is a symptom. It falls in the same category as runny nose, watery eyes, coughing, etc. It is not a disease. Croup is caused by a narrowing of the airway due to swelling in the throat. The amount of swelling that would simply be a sore throat in an adult can cause croup in kids since children have smaller diameter airways.


ITA. DS had it several years in a row, always around the same time of the year. Always w/ minor sniffles by day, and the barky cough hitting at 9pm or so in the evening and persisting through the night. Sometimes he was *barely* sick by day, but we'd get the croupy cough at night.

[MelissaTC]

DH had the croup until he was like 11 or 12 years old! He has no allergies whatsoever and is as healthy as a horse. Seriously, he is NEVER sick. DS has followed in his footsteps. He gets the croup at least once a year but is otherwise never sick, gets the flu vaccine every year and has no known allergies.

[randomkid]

DH had croup - no allergies

DD has had croup many times, but only once was that her only other symptom - fever and croupy cough. Most often, she has gotten croup with a cold. The sore throat and/or drainage caused swelling in her throat and she'd have croup. Now that she is bigger, she still gets a croupy cough with a cold, but usually only has it in the morning, then it seems her throat gets better as the day goes on and the croup stops. No allergies so far that we know of.

Maybe the association with allergies is more that kids with allergies get croup BECAUSE of the allergies. That only makes sense. I don't think it means that every child who gets croup will have allergies, though.

[hillview]

DS #1 (3.5) had croup 2x and no allergies. DN has had the croup honestly maybe 4x and no allergies (he is 2.5).

I am not aware of any connections. Maybe search pubmed? I took a quick look and nothing jumped out at me there.
/hillary