A Christmas straw goat astray

A 22-year-old otherwise healthy man presented to our clinic with suspected acute epiglottitis. The patient had a 1-week history of pain in the throat and fever for the latest 24 hours. During the physical examination, the patient mentioned that he had been eating a Christmas straw goat at a party one week previously. Direct fiberoptic laryngoscopy showed a red and swollen lingual surface of the epiglottis, but no foreign bodies were identified. After inhalation of adrenalin, a 4 cm straw became visible in the epiglottic vallecula. Mimic of acute epiglottitis from a straw in the vallecula has to our knowledge never been described in the literature.