breathe from it,” Trehan adds. “So this early signal of high rates of croup with Omicron is pretty concerning. We’re trying to get this word out to our colleagues.”
Doctors all over the country are seeing similar trends.
A preliminary study found that 2.4% of kids 13 and younger who were hospitalized in one area of South Africa for COVID-19 caused by Omicron also had a croup diagnosis.
There have also been more opportunities for croup to develop with this surge because so many kids have had COVID-19. Nearly 4.2 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in U.S. children since the beginning of January, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Claudia Hoyen, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, usually sees croup season in her area typically hit in the fall. This caused her to raise an eyebrow at the high number of kids that started to show up with croup in December, during the Omicron wave.
“We know that your nasal tissues are much more receptive to Omicron, and the lung is not,” Hoyen shares. “We’ve not seen croup with other surges. This one has been different,”
The good news, however is that most kids with croup haven’t needed to be admitted to the hospital. If they come in for treatment, doctors typically give them a corticosteroid that can reduce the inflammation in the respiratory tract, CNN notes.
Of course the best result would be if young children could escape contracting COVID at all. For young children that are unable to get vaccinated, Hoyen suggests making sure everyone around them is fully vaccinated, if possible.
“Do what you can to save the little ones from being a barky seal. It’s really distressing to hear them, trust me, and it can be quite serious,” Hoyen says. “So do what you can to help them. Getting yourself vaccinated is easy and important.”
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What to do if your child gets infected
If your child gets infected, doctors suggest:
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Make them as comfortable as possible.
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Give them medication to suppress a fever if they have one.
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If they can’t breathe, go see a doctor.
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Keep them as calm as you can.
Tips for comforting a child with croup
The American Academy of Family Physicians mentions these tips for parents of a croupy child:
- Don’t give cough medicine to a child under 4 years old. But you can offer Tylenol to help ease pain. Never give a child aspirin.
- Run a humidifier in your child’s room.
- Place a warm, wet washcloth over your child’s nose. Ask the child to breathe through the cloth.
- Sit with your child for about 10 minutes inside a warm, steamy bathroom outside the shower. The shower should be running hot.