What is Croup: A sickness caused by a virus infection in the area of a child's vocal cords. It is most often recognized by a 'dog barking' cough, and fever. Croup usually lasts for five or six days and mostly affects children between 3 months and 6 years old. Croup has other names, as is often called: parainfluenza, barking cough, laryngotracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, stridor, and spasmodic croup.

What causes Croup: It is most often caused by the parainfluenza virus, but some other viruses and bacterial infections can also cause it. It is the body's reaction to the infection that causes the respiratory problems. It usually occurs in young children as their airways are smaller and shaped differently then adults, making them more susceptible. Children in some families are more prone than others, due to hereditary factors.

Symptoms Of Croup: One of the distinctive characteristics of croup is the sudden development of symptoms. Children will usually be finel when they go to bed, and then they suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with a croupy cough, difficulty breathing, and maybe a fever. The cough that children with croup have is very distinctive, unlike other viral respiratory illnesses, which can cause a deep or rough cough, croup causes a cough that sounds like a 'dogs bark'.

Treatment For Croup: There is no cure for croup, but there are many treatments that can help your child to feel better sooner. Here are a few tips to treat croup and make your child feel more comfortable: Make sure your child gets plenty of rest and naps. Give him or her lots of fluids to drink, such as water, juice, soda. Don't give your child cough syrups, but instead try increasing fluids for helping the croup cough. Check with your child's doctor for the correct amounts of Tylenol to help with fever and any chest discomfort he or she may be feeling. If your childs symptoms get worse, take him or her to the local ER to be safe, and follow the doctors advice. Croup will usually get better over 3-4 days.

Preventing Croup: Since croup is caused by a viral infection, the main way of preventing croup is by preventing the infection. Offer every child plenty of fluids to drink and if you or someone else smokes, always do so outside away from any children.

There is a website that provides cures, facts and great information on Croup and numerous other medical conditions, the website is called: All About Health, and can be found at this url:

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