For generations, Vicks VapoRub has been considered a medicine-cabinet staple but a report published in the medical journal, ‘Chest,’ says the youngest children in the household should not use this popular cold remedy.   In fact, for infants and toddlers, it may do more harm than good.

Instructions for use clearly state the salve should never be used in the nose and never used at all for children under age 2 but many parents do so anyway.  To complicate the matter, many parents don’t even consider Vicks VapoRub a medicine at all because it can be purchased without a prescription and because it is rubbed into the skin instead of being ingested.  Because its use is taken so lightly, many parents never even report it to their pediatricians.

Such is the case of an 18-month-old girl being treated for severe respiratory distress at Wake Forest University.  In the hope of relieving her symptoms, her parents were rubbing the highly aromatic salve directly under her nose.  When doctors stopped all medications the girl was being given, including the Vicks VapoRub, she quickly got much better.

Her case led researchers at the university to launch a study into the effects of the medicine on young children.  Lead researcher Dr. Bruce K. Rubin is a professor and vice chair of research at the university’s department of pediatrics.

Rubin says the ointment makes some adults feel better after using it although it doesn’t really do anything to restore health.  In children, however, it can cause inflammation.  When the child’s airways become inflamed enough, bigger respiratory issues can develop.

The research team discovered that using Vicks VapoRub can actually increase production of mucus by as much as 59% and it can diminish the body’s natural ability to clear mucus by as much as 36%.  Ferrets were used for the study because their upper respiratory system is similar to a human’s.

Speaking on behalf of Proctor & Gamble, the company that makes Vicks VapoRub, David Bemens says he doesn’t think the product is unsafe and the problems one child has with the salve in no way guarantees all children will be affected the same way.  He says the product remains safe and effective when it’s used as the company directs and says no clear link to respiratory distress has yet been made.

This past October, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and several major pharmaceutical companies that make cough and cold medicines sold over the counter, without need for prescription, issued statements that these drugs should never be administered to children under the age of four.

The president of the American College of Chest Physicians, Dr. James A. L. Mathers, Jr., issued a press release that urges parents to always consult a physician before giving any over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to infants and toddlers.  He cited the growing body of evidence that many popular OTC cough and cold remedies can actually be harmful when given to infants and children.

Dr. Daniel Craven says Vicks VapoRub has no proven medicinal value and may be dangerous, especially when exposure is intense, as it is when applied near the nostrils.  He suggests the Wake Forest study indicates the product may be ineffective but, perhaps more alarming, that it may actually be harmful when applied directly under a young child’s nose.  Craven is a pediatric pulmonologist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.