Adult croup: a rare but more severe condition.
We report the first adult patient with virologically confirmed croup caused by parainfluenza virus type 3 and review 10 cases of adult croup described in the English-language literature. Circumstantial evidence of viral infection was present in only 1 other case, in which there was a rise in antibody titer against influenza B virus. Ten patients (91%) required intensive care support. None of the 11 patients died. A comparison was also made between the 11 adults with croup and 43 children hospitalized with severe croup described in a representative paper published in 1984. Adult croup represents an apparently more severe disease entity than pediatric croup.
Woo
P C
PC
Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Young
K
K
Tsang
K W
KW
Ooi
C G
CG
Peiris
M
M
Yuen
K
K
D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002648:Child; D003440:Croup / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D010224:Parainfluenza Virus 3, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed