Daughter

Question

Dear madam, sir,

We have a 2,5 year old daughter. Since a more than a year she is coughing at night. She got different puffs with asthma medication but they didn’t really help much. Her tonsils were removed and that didn’t help either. She seems to get a cold quite often. And during a cold she has a couple of days of fever. Apart from that, she seems really healthy and thrives well. Could this night time cough and this having ‘colds’ all the time be due to CF?

Answer

Dear parents,

We understand your concern about your daughter. We do however point out that ECORN has no intention to solve specific patient problems; it should certainly not be considered as a forum to discuss individual unsolved problems. It really is only an information platform where you can ask general questions about CF So we will translate your question to ‘toddlers who cough at night and the possibility of CF’.

Coughing at night in a toddler can have very many causes. In most young children the cause is really banal: repeated infections of the upper airway sometimes together with an enlarged adenoid. If a child will cough during several weeks after every upper airway infection one could think of asthma especially if in the family there are other cases of asthma or if several people suffer from atopic disorders such as asthma, eczema and hay fever. Other causes of night time cough are for instance gastroesophageal reflux and then of course there are also more serious causes such as CF, primary ciliary dyskinesia or diseases of the immunity. With most of these more serious disorders, the doctor will find abnormalities when examining your child and this will point him towards that diagnosis.

Specifically to your child , we can only advise you to make an appointment with your pediatrician or family doctor. He will examine your child and evaluate if further tests are needed.

Greetings,
K. De Boeck, M. Proesmans, F. Vermeulen

16.02.2009