Croup

CROUP, a Scottish word (croup), denoting the whitish skin on the tongues of young poultry and songbirds (in Russian, so-called typun), is also used to mean lacing or tying something together. At present, the term C. is used to denote all inflammatory affections of the laryngeal mucosa of catarrhal, croupous, and diphtheritic character, if they are accompanied by stenotic breathing phenomena. The stenotic phenomena (however only to a certain degree) are connected with the presence of exudate in the lumen of the larynx and are caused mainly by spasmodic contractions (increased excitability) of the laryngeal and vocal muscles, as is particularly evident in cases of so-called false C. with minimal catarrhal phenomena in the larynx (observed, for example, in measles, scarlet fever, influenza); for more details, see Laryngospasm, Laryngitis. For true and false C., see Diphtheria. The derivative (later) term "croupous" has received a rather broad interpretation, namely as a synonym and variety of fibrinous inflammation (see), wherever it is observed. True croup—see Diphtheria. False C., s. laryngitis acuta,—see Laryngitis.