Can I Put Vicks on My 18 Month Old Baby With a Cough
Vicks VapoRub Misuse May Hurt Infants
Used improperly, the well-known remedy may cause breathing problems.
Jan. xiii, 2009— -- Dr. Bruce Rubin, has seen a lot of puzzling cases of respiratory problems. Simply Rubin, the vice chair of pediatric pulmonology at Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., said he had never encountered anything quite like the case he saw about three years ago.
An emergency room physician consulted Rubin when an xviii-month-erstwhile girl who had a common upper respiratory infection of a sudden developed severe animate problems.
"The patient was unduly sick for having just an upper respiratory infection," Rubin said.
According to a instance report published in the journal Chest by Rubin and his colleagues, the child was recovering relatively well while battling her respiratory infection until well-nigh two hours before she was admitted to the emergency room.
When doctors began questioning the patient'south grandparents about what might have caused the girl's respiratory distress, the only reply her grandparents could come up with was that they had rubbed Vicks VapoRub under the child's nose earlier that day.
"Sure enough, nosotros demonstrated that the Vicks produced increased mucous in the patient'southward airway, which was already inflamed and narrowed because of her respiratory infection," Rubin explained.
To ostend that the menthol-containing rub was responsible for the patient's respiratory stress, researchers tested the product on ferrets. Indeed, they found that exposure to VapoRub increased mucous product, thereby causing inflammation in the rodents' airways.
Rubin said this case should not be viewed as an isolated incident. Although the labeling on Vicks VapoRub indicates that the product should non be used on children younger than two and should not be rubbed directly under the patient's nose, he said some parents may still be putting young children at risk by not paying heed to these warnings.
"I don't think that parents ignore this warning, but I think they feel relief when they employ [Vicks VapoRub] themselves, and it'southward an over-the-counter drug ... and, therefore, not thought of every bit anything that can crusade issues," Rubin explained. "Merely sick children may reply differently than you'd anticipate."
VapoRub Soothes, But May Not Help
Although VapoRub is widely used to relieve cold and flu symptoms, there is little to no data suggesting that the product actually helps clear airways. This new study provides the get-go findings that suggest not simply that the product doesn't assist cold and flu patients, but that information technology may really crusade damage to some.
VapoRub has been known as a mainstay in many family unit medicine cabinets for years. In the past five years alone, Procter & Gamble shipped one billion units of the product globally.
According to Procter & Gamble spokesperson David Bernens, the marketplace surveillance data obtained by the makers of Vicks does not coincide with the findings of this report. Bernens said they see only about three adverse events per one million units of Vicks VapoRub sold.
"For generations Vicks has been shown to be safe and effective if used in accord with the instructions on the bottle," Bernens said. "Fauna findings have unknown clinical relevance, and the safety of Vicks VapoRub has been shown in multiple clinical trials in over 1,000 children who were studied, ranging in historic period from ane calendar month old to 12 years old."
Still, most doctors said they don't recommend the widely-used remedy to patients.
"I don't suggest using VapoRub for any medical condition," said Dr. Curtis Stine, professor and associate chair in the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Wellness at the Florida State Academy Higher of Medicine. "If a patient or parent asks about it, I generally tell them that though lots of people use VapoRub, I'm not aware of whatever studies that say it helps. I suspect now I will caution people that it's been shown to potentially be harmful."
Other doctors said the study may even cause VapoRub to be lumped in with other coughing and cold medications that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed dangerous for children under the age of 2.
According to Dr. Diane Pappas, associate professor of pediatrics at the Academy of Virginia in Charlottesville, this study confirms that Vicks VapoRub, as well, "should non exist used in children nether the age of two."
However, recommendations to skip the Vicks may seem strange to many parents who were treated with it when they were children. These parents probable view Vicks as a harmless remedy rather than a strong medication that should not exist administered to young children.
"Yous take a generation of young adults and fifty-fifty their parents who used Vicks on themselves, and then they are familiar with it," said Dr. Ira Rubin, a pediatrician at Naperville Pediatric Associates in Naperville, Ill. "In addition, the general feeling is that since you are not ingesting a chemic, what impairment could it possibly cause?"
VapoRub Complications Likely Rare
The good news is that the incidence of serious agin events, such equally respiratory distress, is quite depression.
"Rarely practice I hear people say their child of a sudden got worse with VapoRub," said Dr. Neil Herendeen, director of the Strong Pediatric Practice at the University of Rochester Medical Heart.
However, Dr. Richard O'Brien, spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians, notes it is not uncommon to see similarly-caused animate problems in people admitted to the ER.
"We practice commonly see people with difficulty breathing due to noxious aromas, or contact with chemicals that tin can irritate the mucous membranes of the nose and oral fissure or fifty-fifty the lungs themselves," O'Brien explained.
O'Brien also noted that, based on the ingredients of the Vicks VapoRub, it is non hard to imagine how such a product could cause respiratory distress in a sick child.
"Looking at the ingredients of the product, if practical directly to the nostrils, information technology could exist very irritating to the ... mucous membranes, and that tin can hands cause difficulty animate in anyone, especially someone who is ill," O'Brien added.
And Dr. Ira Rubin said that the best advice may exist to avoid coughing and common cold medications, such equally Vicks in young children birthday.
"This is another reminder to parents to leave their infants alone," Rubin added. "Infants should not exist exposed to chemicals and drugs unless absolutely necessary."
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Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/story?id=6631985&page=1
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