Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about Epiglottitis. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero to finals.com slash epiglottitis or in the respiratory section of

the Zero to Finals pediatrics book.

So let's get straight into it.

Epiglottitis is inflammation and swelling of the epiglottis caused by infection.

And this is typically caused by infection with hemophilis influenza type B.

The epiglottis can swell to the point where it completely

occludes the airways and this can happen within hours of symptoms developing. Therefore, epiglottitis

is a life-threatening emergency. Thankfully, epiglottitis is now rare due to the routine vaccination program,

which vaccinates all children against

hemophilus. You need to be extra cautious and have a high degree of suspicion in children who

have not had vaccines. It can present in a similar way to croup, but with a more rapid onset.

In your exams, keep a lookout for the unvaccinated child presenting with a fever,

sore throat and difficulty swallowing that's sitting forward and drooling, as this is the key

presentation in exams for epiglottitis. So let's talk about presentation that would

suggest possible epiglottitis, and the child will present with a sore throat and strider,

drawling, the tripod position, which is where they're sat forward with a hand on each knee,

a high fever, difficulty or painful swallowing, a muffled voice, the child will be scared or maybe very quiet,

and they'll look septic or unwell from the end of the bed.

What investigations would you do? Well, if a child is presenting acutely unwell and you're

suspecting epiglottitis,

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