Acute Epiglottitis

By: Joselyn MedinaClass: ENGL-096-150

Date: 04/08/2015

Symptoms of Epiglottitis• Fever.

• Sore Throat.

• Dysphagia. (Difficulty Swallowing)

• Drooling. (The flow of saliva outside the mouth)

Symptoms• Stridor. (Noisy breathing)

• Hoarseness. (“Vocal sounds may be weak, breathy, scratchy, or husky, and the pitch or quality of the voice

may change”)• Respiratory Distress and is very painful.

Causes of Epiglottitis

• It causes the closing of the airways, preventing the proper swallowing of foods, respiration and increasing the chance of chocking.

• It’s usually caused by a bacteria “H Influenza” (Haemophilus Influenza).

• Bacteria or viruses causing upper respiratory infections in your throat.

Prognosis of Epiglottitis.• The diagnosis is based on the

results on clinical diagnosis and physical examinations. In addition, by a CT scan of the side of the neck to visualize your throat.

• When the physician is doing a physical examination they evaluate your throat to find sings of redness and swallowing around it.

• Can also be prognoses by different noninfectious causes like allergic reactions and tumor for example.

How is the treatment?• This disease is treated with “Antibiotic or Ampicillin with

Sulbatam”.

• The patient should go to the hospital as soon as possible if any of the symptoms are occurs.

• If the “Epiglottitis” is diagnose severe, a surgery will be done to open the airways immediately.

Also…• This disease is more common in adults than children, and is

easily to be recognized. The progression in adults is slower than children.

• There is a vaccine to prevent this disease, but is only available in private hospitals. (“HiB Vaccine”). And it can be referred by your doctor.

• If treated on time, it will last as short as several hours, up to seven days.

The author’s father had the disease; how was it handled?

• The author’s father, Mr. Westley Moore, died from this disease after three days of being admitted and released from the hospital.

I believe back in 1982, science wasn’t advanced as it is today. In addition, the controversy about racism affected everywhere including healthcare. If Mr. Moore would of have the proper examinations and treatments, the story would of be different. Maybe, he would of survived.

How did it affect the author’s family?

• Mr. Westley Moore’s death affected his family tremendously, from his wife and the author. The family had to move from their home because the mother needed help to raise her children due to her husband not being there. It was a transition for all of them. Loosing a love one is hard and a life changing.

References• Tittles: Acute Epiglottitis • Author of the article: Not given for both.• Tittle of the articles: Epiglottitis – One more vaccine to be

added to immunization schedule in state.• The sources: Emergency Medicine Reports- The times of

India. http://www.emronline.com and http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.howardcc.edu/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca387707287&v=2.1&u=colu91149&it=r&p=hrca&sw=w&asid=204a22bd3aa82b933c0514790613c4da

• Date it was written: May 18, 2014 and October 28, 2014.• Date I located the article: 03/25/2015.