Dr. Schiffman received his B.S. degree with High Honors in biology from Hobart College in 1976. He then moved to Chicago where he studied biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. He attended Rush Medical College where he received his M.D. degree in 1982 and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Mersch received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego, and prior to entering the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine, was a graduate student (attaining PhD candidate status) in Experimental Pathology at USC. He attended internship and residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
Croup can be frightening for both children and parents. Therefore, comforting and reassuring the child is the first step. Breathing difficulties can develop and worsen rapidly. Close monitoring of the child is important during the early phases of the illness.
To help the child breathe more comfortably, a cool or warm mist vaporizer can be placed near the child. The humidified air promotes reduction of vocal cord swelling and thus lessens symptoms. To avoid accidental burns, hot water vaporizers should be out of the reach of
infants and
toddlers. Also effective is having the child breathe in a bathroom steamed up with hot water from the tub or shower. When cough or stridor worsens at night, 10 or 15 minutes sitting or driving in the cool night air can also help the child breathe.
In infants and children, blockage in the nasal passages from mucus can further impair breathing. Careful instillation of saltwater nose drops (¼ teaspoon of table salt in
1 cup of water) into the nasal openings every few hours, followed by gentle suction using a bulb syringe, can be helpful in opening nasal passages.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding most combination cough and cold medicines. Several studies show that these medicines are ineffective in children. They can potentially cause side effects that could lead to more serious symptoms. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) are helpful for pain relief and fever. Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin,
Ecotrin)
is avoided in the treatment of croup and other viral illnesses since aspirin is
suspected as being related to Reye's syndrome in children. Reye's
syndrome is a serious illness causing kidney, liver, and brain damage, which can lead to the rapid onset of coma. Occasionally, cortisone medications are prescribed for more severe cases of croup. Because a virus usually causes croup, antibiotics are reserved for those rare occasions when bacterial infections cause croup or become superimposed on the viral infection.
Even though plenty of fluids are encouraged to avoid dehydration, forcing fluids is generally unnecessary. Popsicles are a popular means of providing fluid. Activity should be restricted to quiet play during the first days of the illness.
Children with croup are most contagious during the first days of fever and illness. Infection spreads easily in a household. Other children in the family will often develop a sore throat or a cough, without necessarily developing the croupy cough and stridor seen in croup. Infants and children may return to school or day care when their temperature is normal and they feel better. A lingering cough can last another
two weeks but should not be the reason to keep them at home.
Most sore throats are caused by viruses or mechanical causes (such as mouth breathing) and can be treated successfully at home. However, a person should be seen by a health care professional if they have a sore throat that has a rapid onset, and is associated with a fever or tenderness of the front of the neck; a sore throat that causes the person to have difficulty swallowing (not just pain swallowing) or breathing; or if a sore throat lasts for more than a week.
Chronic cough is a cough that does not go away and is generally a symptom of another disorder such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, sinus infection, cigarette smoking, GERD, postnasal drip, bronchitis, pneumonia, medications, and less frequently tumors or other lung disease. Treatment of chronic cough is dependant upon the cause.
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the voice box (vocal cords). The most common cause of acute laryngitis is infection, which inflames the vocal cords. Symptoms may vary from degree of laryngitis and age of the patient. Common symptoms include croup, hoarse cough, fever, cold, runny nose, dry cough, and loss of voice. Chronic laryngitis generally lasts more than three weeks. Causes other than infection include smoking, excess coughing, GERD, and more. Treatment depends on the cause of laryngitis.
Good parenting helps foster empathy, honesty, self-reliance, self-control, kindness, cooperation, and cheerfulness, says Steinberg, a distinguished professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. It also promotes intellectual curiosity, motivation, and desire to achieve. It helps protect children from developing anxiety, depression, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, and alcohol and drug abuse.
Children's health is focused on the well-being of children from conception through adolescence. There are many aspects of children's health, including growth and development, illnesses, injuries, behavior, mental illness, family health and community health.
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