Resisting antibiotics for sinus relief

The Infectious Diseases Society of America says sinus infections shouldn’t be treated with conventional antibiotics since 90 to 98 per cent of cases are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated with antibiotics. Image Copyright WikiCommons.

The standard treatment for sinus infections won’t help the majority of patients and may actually harm them, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The society says sinus infections shouldn’t be treated with conventional antibiotics since 90 to 98 per cent of cases are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated with antibiotics. Currently, sinus infections, also known as rhino-sinusitis, are the fifth-leading reason why doctors prescribe antibiotics and affect one in seven people ever year.

Dr. Anthony Chow, professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia and chair of the 11-member guidelines panel, says doctors don’t have a simple test that will quickly and easily determine whether a sinus infection is viral or bacterial, and simply prescribe antibiotics in most cases.

“If the infection turns out to be viral – as most are – the antibiotics won’t help and in fact can cause harm by increasing antibiotic resistance, exposing patients to drug side effects unnecessarily and adding cost,” he says.

Because of this, the society released new rhino-sinusitis guidelines for doctors Wednesday, helping them distinguish between bacterial and viral infections.

Dr. Thomas File, co-author of the voluntary guidelines, says previous recommendations referenced randomized controlled trials that didn’t differentiate between bacterial and viral infections. The new recommendations clearly consider the quality of scientific evidence, he says.

“Health care providers face difficulties when treating sinus infections and these guidelines provide the best recommendations available,” he says. “The guidelines are transparent, clearly stating the level of evidence for each recommendation and pointing out where we need more research.”

The guidelines will be published in the April 15 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Based in Arlington, Va., the Infectious Diseases Society of America was founded in 1963 and has nearly 10,000 members, including physicians, scientists and other health-care professionals.