title: Airway management in acute infectious croup syndromes.
abstract: The article presents the author's experience with airway management of 500 children with acute infectious croup and epiglottitis over a 7-year period in a teaching hospital setup. A policy of early elective protective intubation under controlled condition for children with severe croup and epiglottitis, in a multidisciplinary intensive care setting resulted in a satisfactory outcome. Recent developments in the field are discussed; these include non-invasive monitoring, medical treatment options for viral croup with parenteral high dose dexamethasone and nebulized adrenaline, newer broad-spectrum antimicrobials for drug-resistant bacterial infectious and an effective vaccine against Hemophilus influenzae type b. These hold the promise of reducing morbidity and mortality from acute infectious croup syndromes even in situations with limited surgical and monitoring facilities.
authors.affiliation: 3A Gem Court, 38, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, 600 020 Chennai.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Benjamin