Typical age of disease
Sometimes it can be quite difficult to distinguish epiglottitis from croup in the first moment, as both diseases mainly affect small children between the ages of two and six years. If, on the other hand, one looks closely at the individual diseases, great differences in the severity and course can be observed. The term pseudogroup describes an acute inflammation of the upper respiratory tract below the vocal chords.
Thus there is already a great difference in the localization of the two diseases. Furthermore, pseudogroup, in contrast to epiglottitis, is usually caused by viruses and presents itself in the course of the disease more weakly. The fever is often less pronounced here and the characteristic strong pain when swallowing is absent.
Often, however, a dry, strong cough can be recognized, which is also called croup cough. In addition, the disease progresses more slowly overall than is the case with epiglottitis. Severe cases accompanied by acute shortness of breath occur only very rarely.
Another difference is the following therapy. Since this is an inflammation caused by a virus, antibiotics would have no effect in this case. The body will be able to control the disease on its own and may be supported by anti-inflammatory drugs. In contrast, in epiglottitis, a high-dose antibiotic is given.
