The menthol compound is, still, a widely used drug to get rid of cold, cough and congestion. Although, there has been not enough data to favor the drug’s clinical benefits, yet, it has been around for almost 100 years. The popular salve Vicks VapoRub comes with a warning that it should not be used for children under two years.
“People don't read warnings on prescription medications, so to [read a warning for] a salve on the outside of the body that has been around for 100 years . . . I think it would be a rare parent who would do that,” stated lead author Dr. Bruce K. Rubin of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The report published in the Chest, a medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, warns that the drug might stimulate mucus production and cause inflammation of the airway, triggering young children’s breathing problems.
Professor Rubin, the lead author of the study, makes a reference to a recent case, where a previously healthy 18-month-old girl landed in the emergency room after her grandparents dabbed Vicks VapoRub under the nose to ease her upper respiratory infection. The child had to be rushed to the hospital after she began to struggle for breath.
Grandparents’ misuse of the Vicks VapoRub might be the cause behind the toddler’s respiratory distress, feels Dr. Bruce K. Rubin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest’s Brenner Children’s Hospital.
“It was summertime, and this child had a virus, but she was disproportionately sick and was not getting better despite treatment (with rescue inhaler and steroids),” Rubin told WebMD. “Juan Carlos Abanses, MD, was the resident in the emergency room and he went back to the grandparents and asked if there was anything that could have caused this. They said she was doing well until they put a little Vicks under her nose, and pretty soon after she had trouble breathing.”
The results of the study revealed that VapoRub increases mucus secretion in both normal as well as inflamed airways and also slows the speed at which mucus is cleared from the trachea.
“I recommend never putting Vicks in, or under, the nose of anybody -- adult or child,” Dr. Rubin was quoted as saying. “The best treatments for congestion are a bit of saline (salt water) and gentle rubber bulb suction, warm drinks or chicken soup, and, often, just letting the passage of time heal the child,” he added.
On the other hand, Crystal Harrell, a spokesman for Procter & Gamble( the makers of Vicks VapoRub) stated that the product “is safe and effective when used as directed.”
“We have conducted human safety studies in over 1,000 children, 1 month to 12 years of age,” Harrell said. “We did not see any of the types of adverse events . . . mentioned in this paper.”
In 2007, the FDA had advised parents to abstain from using over-the-counter cold and cough medicines for children younger than 2 years.
“To help the body's defenses, the best things are love and hugs, warm liquids like chicken soup, and time,” suggested Rubin.
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