Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Your voice box (larynx) is a framework of cartilage, muscle and mucous membrane that forms the entrance to your windpipe (trachea), the tube that connects your mouth and throat to your lungs. The epiglottis is a small, movable "lid" just above the larynx that prevents food and drink from entering your windpipe.
It does this by dropping down when you swallow, effectively sealing off the larynx. That's why you can't swallow and breathe at the same time. When you're not eating or drinking, the epiglottis is slightly lifted so that air can flow freely into your lungs. But if the epiglottis becomes swollen — either from infection or from injury — the airway narrows and may become completely blocked.
Infection
The most common cause of swelling and inflammation of the epiglottis and surrounding tissues is infection with Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) bacteria. Hib isn't the germ that causes the flu, but it's responsible for other serious conditions — including respiratory tract infections and meningitis.
Hib spreads through infected droplets coughed or sneezed into the air. It's possible to harbor Hib in your nose and throat without becoming sick — though you still have the potential to spread the bacteria to others.
Other bacteria and viruses also can cause inflammation of the epiglottis, including:
- Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), another bacterium that causes meningitis, pneumonia, ear infections and blood infection (sepsis)
- Streptococcus A, B and C, a group of bacteria that cause diseases ranging from strep throat to blood infections
- Candida albicans, the fungus responsible for vaginal yeast infections, diaper rash and oral thrush
- Varicella zoster, the virus responsible for chickenpox and shingles
Injury
Physical injury, such as a direct blow to the throat, can cause epiglottitis. So can scald burns to your face or burns from drinking very hot liquids.
You also may develop signs and symptoms similar to those of epiglottitis if you:
- Swallow a chemical that burns your throat
- Swallow a foreign object
- Smoke drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin
