Immediate medical help is required whenever there is a diagnosis of epiglottitis as the victim may be in danger of sudden and unpredictable closing of the airway. It may also turn out to be fatal if the patient is not given immediate medical help. If there are no signs of respiratory distress, IV fluids may be helpful. It is important to prevent anxiety because it may lead to an acute airway obstruction.

It may be necessary to insert a tube into the windpipe under general anaesthetic to keep the airways open, allowing oxygen to get to the lungs and in very severe cases, the doctor may need to perform a cricothyrotomy (cutting the neck to insert a breathing tube directly into the windpipe). The patients would be given antibiotics and humidified oxygen (oxygen that has been moistened) is given to help the patient to breathe.

The patient must regularly intake antibiotics and go for follow ups with their doctor. If a breathing tube is to be placed in the neck, follow ups with the surgeon is needed to take out the tube and make sure the site is healing well.

In the next post, I will talk about how to prevent epiglottitis.

Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/epiglottitis2.shtml#what / http://www.emedicinehealth.com/epiglottitis/page6_em.htm / http://www.emedicinehealth.com/epiglottitis/page7_em.htm