Jan. 13, 2009 -- Misuse of Vicks VapoRub may have landed an 18-month-old girl in the hospital, Wake Forest University researchers suggest.
The previously healthy girl had an upper respiratory infection, for which her grandparents treated her with a dab of Vicks VapoRub under the nose. In about half an hour, the child began to struggle for breath, and she was taken to the emergency room.
Bruce K. Rubin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest's Brenner Children's Hospital, suggests the grandparents' misuse of Vicks VapoRub may very well have caused the girl's respiratory distress.