teach me about HiB

[MelindaGayle]

OK, so I'm thinking about this one right now because my daughter (6 months) is waking up congested every morning with a productive cough. It's just not going away, after more than 3 months. I'm terrified that she's a carrier for HiB or some scary strain of strep pneumo, and as soon as there's a break in the throat to the bloodstream that she'll get invasive disease.

So I grant that I am paranoid, but I'm wondering how HiB works. Do people carry HiB and then when the conditions are right, it turns invasive? Or, if they carry it, do they build antibodies against it that would then help them fight it, thus only making it dangerous when you are first exposed?

I'm uninformed. Can anyone educate me?

BTW, is it likely that she's carrying a bacteria in her ENT that could turn scary based on symptoms? ( posted in H &H too, but curious about what people here think).

Thanks!

[chaoticzenmom]

I don't know much about hib anymore.  I remember when I was looking up the information for making the decision as to whether or not to vaccinate for it, I looked at the cdc site and was reassured that my children have none of the risk factors, except for age at that time.  If your child has had a productive cough for 3 months though, I think that's something that should be looked into.  I wonder if it's an allergy or irritant in the air.  Did she have a sickness that is lingering?  I'd probably take her to the doctor to ask about that, but I don't think it's a hib thing.

[MelindaGayle]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I did take her in to the doc. The thing about her cough is that it's not all day or anything. She coughs 2-3 times in the morning, clears the guck out of her throat, and then she doesn't cough for the rest of the day. I was scared about cystic fibrosis or something, but the doc had two theories: 1. Milk that she's burping up that's staying in her throat and 2: dry air that's thickening the mucous. She told me to try a humidifier to see if it goes away, but she pretty much blew it off as no big deal. She said that if it was an all day long cough, that would be worrisome,but coughing twice in the morning is not.

[chaoticzenmom]

Yeah, my first thoughts were that maybe you were sleeping with a fan or hadn't changed the filters in your A/C recently enough.  I didn't want to discount other options though.  Glad you got it checked out.

[mamakay]

Coughing several times a day for months with no other symptom is not a symptom of carrying Hib. I'd guess it's a really, really mild allergy causing mucous, and like your doc said, it dries overnight and she coughs/clears it out in the AM.

[Marnica]

yup - i was thinking possible post nasal drip. Certainly not HIB!

[ammiga]

Have you looked into things that might be irritating her airways? If she sleeps on a non-organic mattress, scented lotions, new air filter...

[japonica]

Sounds like an allergy to me. I've dragged my DS in to the GP twice now for his cough...just a morning one that does not return during the day. Both times he said allergies and postnasal drip. 

Hib would not even be on my radar with the symptoms you describe.