Stridor of acute origin (commonly termed croup) is due to laryngeal or tracheal narrowing. The causes can be viral laryngotracheobronchitis (viral croup), acute epiglottitis, laryngeal diphtheria, retropharyngeal abscess, foreign body, allergic oedema, injury by steam or smoke inhalation or intubation and laryngeal spasm due to hypocalcaemia. 1 ,2 The relative importance of the various causes v...

10. Eden AN, Kaufman A, Yu R. Corticosteroids and croup: controlled double-blind study. JAMA 1967; 200: 403-04. 11. Koren G, Frand M, Barzilay Z, MacLeod SM. Corticosteroid treatment of laryngotracheitis v spasmodic croup in children. Am J Dis Child 1983; 137: 941-44. 12. Super DM, Cartelli NA, Brooks LJ, Lembo RM, Kumar ML. A prospective randomised double-blind study to evaluate the effect of ...