Croup - is it infectious? Should I take dd to party?

[wrapmefestively]

Dd has croup. She woke up late Sunday night and again on Monday night struggling to breathe. It was scary at the time and she was labouring for breath, but within 5 minutes of me going in to soothe her / put her in an upright position, it settled down. Nevertheless I panicked on Monday night and called the doctor out - who didn't seem unduly concerned but gave her some oral steroids.

During the day she just has a bit of a cough and a hoarse voice. Otherwise she is running around normally etc.

She didn't have an 'attack' last night so I guess she is on the mend.

We have a Christmas party to go to tomorrow afternoon - should I take her? There is a 5 week old baby attending (sibling of one of the older children). Is croup infectious? (I may be wrong, but I think its a complication of an upper respiratory tract infection and that is the upper respiratory tract infection which is infectious not the croup?)

most cases of croup are caused by a virus so it is a good bet she'll be contagious .. I wouldn't take her .. it wouldn't be fair with it being so close to christmas .. sorry

ds1 had croup and I was definitely told it was contagious. In fact his cousin caught it from him. I thiink it is airborne and maily affects the under 5s. At the time his cousin had a new baby sister and everyone was worried as i think it can be serious for babies. Luckily she didn't get it. Maybe you should check with your Doctor/NHS Direct.

they can be contagious till several days after the symptoms clear up too

My dd's had croup which has turned into a horrible long-term chesty cough for 2 weeks now. She's 26 months. I've kept her away from all social events more or less, I wouldn't wish this on anyone and although rare, croup can be fatal so a 5 week baby should definitely not be exposed. Sorry ...

croup in itself is not infectious (as told by GP) but some children are susceptible to it. In some children the virus presents as a cough / cold in others croup so I would err on the side of caution as there is such a young baby going to be there.

gawd i didnt know it was contagious! i have always carried on as normal when ds has it (which he does often) he even goes to nursery

bad mummy:(

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/croup2.shtml\here}

Thanks for your input so far - and if anyone else has views keep them coming....

I did start looking on the net and found this:

(from ivillage)"Although family members who catch the same cold virus often have similar symptoms, this may not always be the case because it's the nature of cold viruses to cause different symtoms in different people ...The point is that croup is a description of symptoms rather than a name for a disease caused by a specific virus"

..so this sort of suggests that croup isn't contagious but is a complication of the common cold / cough in some children?

Bit confused and want to do the right thing so have rung my GP practice with the query. A doctor is going to ring me back after open surgery to discuss it with me so I will decide then.

Bluemoon, I take your point to an extent but it is extremely rare indeed for croup to be fatal.....the tiniest of tiny risks, and many everyday illnesses can be fatal in a tiny minority of cases...However will ask my doctor about this too. Incidentally I have a baby myself at the moment - can't quarantine him from his sister , and certainly not for a fortnight!

Will let you know what he says....

WMF - this is correct. Croup is a symptom of an infection. The croup cough can also develop from inhaling something or an allergy so then not infectious at all. Most croup is due to infection. Perhaps best to be cautious this time of year.

thanks for that link gothicsanta

Well, spoke to doctor and he said that

(a) yes croup is infectious as croup itself (i.e. not just as a complication of a cold / chest infection)
(b) it has pretty low infectivity
(c) as dd is now getting better and recovering her infectivity would be even lower
(d) he personally would not expose her to a 5 week old just to be on the super safe side, but doesn't think I should curtail her other activities (i.e no reason why she shouldn't be in the company of older babies and toddlers)
(e) he doesn't consider it to be much worse than a common cold and most of us wouldn't quarantee our child with that. It's an illness that worries us because it sounds dreadful when they are wheezing and have a barking cough, but in reality they are not seriously ill

So I won't take her to the party tomorrow because it's in a small confined area (someone's house) where a 5 week old will be present, but I will be taking her to her swimming lesson on Friday and another Christmas party on Sunday afternoon (where some young babies will be present). Otherwise where do you draw the line? - not take her to a pre booked Santa's grotto thing that I've got booked for Saturday in case she is in the presence of a newborn in the waiting area etc etc..