Treatment of Epiglottitis

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Severe epiglottitis can block the airways and needs emergency treatment in hospital. The treatment will vary according to how seriously ill the person is.

The most important thing is to give them oxygen to help improve their breathing and their circulation. This makes sure that oxygen gets to the vital organs, such as the brain and heart. Highly concentrated humidified (moist) oxygen can be supplied through a face and nose mask, or special oxygen tubes that fit into the nose.

In severe cases the patient may need to be helped to breathe using a machine called a ventilator. In some cases, such as when the swollen epiglottis blocks the windpipe, a tracheostomy may be performed. This is when a small cut is made in the windpipe, so that a tube can be put directly into the airways and get oxygen to the lungs. Sometimes a person who has had a tracheostomy may also need a ventilator to help them breathe through the tube. If you need help breathing, you will usually be cared for in an intensive or high-dependency care unit.

You may be given steroid drugs or bronchodilators (drugs that open up the airtubes in the lungs) using a nebuliser. This is a device that turns the drugs into a mist, which you breathe in through a special mouthpiece or mask. They help reduce any swelling and sticky mucus around or blocking the windpipe, in order to help oxygen get into the lungs.

You will be given antibiotic drugs to fight the infection, and you might also have intravenous steroids (injected into a vein) to help reduce the swelling around the windpipe. You will also be given fluids directly through a vein (intravenous drip), to stop you getting dehydrated.

Further tests, such as blood or saliva samples, or X-rays, are sometimes carried out during treatment to exclude other conditions.

Most children recover in about seven days and may need to stay in hospital for that period of time. Adults usually take a little longer to recover.