Antibiotics may not aid sinus infections

Subjects suffering from facial pain and a runny nose with greenish or yellowish mucous generally improved within about two weeks — whether they took the standard antibiotic amoxicillin, steroid nose spray or fake medicine. The results, based on patients' reporting whether their symptoms had improved, echo previous findings in children. Antibiotics, particularly the penicillin-like drug amoxicillin, are among the most commonly prescribed medicines for sinus infections. Steroid sprays sometimes are used, but the study found they also were no better than dummy drugs, although they appeared to provide some relief for patients with only minor symptoms. The study, according to its authors, should lead to a "reconsideration of antibiotic use for acute sinusitis."

Inhaling steam and squirting salt water into the nose to flush out thick mucous are among other methods that sometimes provide relief, he said. The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Causes of sinus infections include bacteria, viruses, fungal infections and allergies. Despite a long-held notion, recent studies have found that yellowish or greenish mucous doesn't always mean the infections are bacterial.

Bonnie - how many studies do we need to see to convince doctors to stop prescribing antibiotics for sinus infections? As I have said for over ten years and the Mayo Clinic for five, sinus infections are very often fungal (from yeast-overgrowth) or allergy-related. Do not consider taking an antibiotic unless the infection is cultured and confirmed bacterial.