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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingCroup is a very common childhood illness. A common treatment for croup is humidity. Many of you have probably sat in a steamy bathroom holding a croupy child on your lap, but a new study says that humidity does not actually help in treating the most common kind of croup.
Two-year old Kyan recently had croup, a viral infection that comes with an awful barking cough.
Dr. Dennis Scolnik, MD: "It's a curious seal-like cough or something like a dog trying to clear its throat."
His mom did what most parents do.
Stephanie Greer: "I kind of just turned on everything and sat by the shower. And um, it did get humid in there, but I don't know, I didn't think it was doing too much for him."
Researchers also wondered. For three years they checked out 150 young children with moderate to severe cases of croup and found humidity as a treatment was a wash.
Dr. Scolnik: "Humidity in any form, however well you've prepared it, however exactly you're trying to deliver it to the area that's affected by croup, didn't have an effect."
There was an unintended, indirect benefit.
Dr. Scolnik: "The treatment itself might not have an outcome that we were able to measure, but the fact that we calmed the parents, the fact that the parents were able to calm the child, the fact that some time elapsed, all could actually make the croup better."
This mom agrees, comfort is what her kid needed.
Stephanie Greer: "Once I got him in my arms, I guess, you know, closer contact, he seemed a lot better."
About five percent of young children will get croup at least once. It's usually not serious, though about one percent do end up hospitalized.
