Sinus Infection? Don't Count on an Rx

The alarm clock read 6:07 AM. The symptoms were all too familiar: a pounding headache, a feeling of tightness, nausea, a slight ache in one ear, a sore throat.

For 27-year-old Kimberly, the cause was obvious. A veteran of eight sinus and ear surgeries as both a child and young adult, she knew a sinus infection was about to change the course of her week. She also knew as the administrator of her company, she could not miss work.

When she managed to see her physician after work that Monday, Kim assumed she would get one of three antibiotics typically used to treat these bouts. She was in for a big surprise. Her physician, flipping through her chart, remarked that he had prescribed an antibiotic only six months earlier. Wait it out, he urged her. Handing her a brochure on the overuse of antibiotics, he stipulated that she not call him back until Wednesday afternoon if she did not improve. She struggled for a few days and ultimately overcame the infection without antibiotics.

According to a new study in the March issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, antibiotics are still being prescribed for 7 out of every 10 patients with chronic sinus infections. They're also used for 8 of 10 patients with acute sinus infections. These statistics were surprising given that the research indicates more than 90 percent of these infections are actually caused by viruses instead of bacteria. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses. Add to that several years of campaigns targeting physician awareness of the overuse of antibiotics and the spread of increasingly virulent strains of bacteria resistant to drugs.