What Causes A Swollen Uvula In A Child?

Posted on Tue, 16 Aug 2016

Question: Is epiglottitis the same as a swollen Uvula? My son as a child had a bad case of an infected uvula, and as an adult that is his weak spot when he gets sick. I know there is an immunization shot for epiglottitis Hib? Should he talk to his doc about getting it?
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Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
it's not the same

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

epiglottis is not the same structure... A swollen uvula is very common in pharyngitis/tonsillitis and it's not dangerous. Epiglottitis may cause suffocation to the patient because the airway (the entrance of the trachea) may become obstructed by the swollen epiglottis. This is a disease of the infants mostly. Haemophilus is the causative agent and there is indeed a vaccine for it. Your son may do the vaccine although he's not in danger for such infections and vaccination is not imperative unless he has asplenia (surgically removed the spleen) or is immunocompromised (transplanted patient, etc). Haemophilus may cause various respiratory (and other systems') tract infections though.

I hope it helps!
Kind Regards!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar