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Acute sinitus is an inflammation of the membranes lining the
sinuses. It affects perhaps 20 million adults and children
a year and
is among the most common childhood ailments for which antibiotics
are routinely prescribed. Serious complications such as meningitis
can occur, but are rare.
Despite guidelines that recommend their use when symptoms
linger, antibiotics have little or no effect against most
acute sinus infections in children. The most recent study
to make this claim, published in Pediatrics, comes
amid growing concern that the overuse of antibiotics is creating
drug-resistant germs.
 One hundred and sixty-one children, eight years old on average,
were given one of two common penicillin-type drugs (amoxicillin)
or dummy pills for two weeks. By the start of the third week,
about 80 percent of the children in all three groups showed
similar improvement.
Antimicrobial treatment offered no benefit in overall symptom
resolution; duration of symptoms; recovery to usual functional
status; days missed from school or childcare; or relapse and
recurrence of sinus symptoms. The authors suggest that parents
practice awareness, and doctors wait until symptoms have lasted
at least three weeks before prescribing antibiotics.
Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about nonpharmaceutical
alternatives for managing acute sinusitis and other childhood
illnesses. For more information on childhood conditions, go
to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/childhood.html.
Reference:
Garbutt JM, Goldstein M, Gellman E, et al. A randomized,
placebo-controlled trial of antimicrobial treatment for children
with clinically diagnosed acute sinitus. Pediatrics
2001:107(4), pp. 619-625.
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