Antibiotics are not helpful in Sinusitis

Amoxicillin, an antibiotic, is found to be less effective as compared to placebo in the treatment of sinusitis.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis worked on 166 adults for three years and got these results.

“We feel antibiotics are overused in the primary-care setting,” says Jane M. Garbutt, MD, research associate professor of medicine and the paper’s first author. “There is a movement afoot, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to try to improve the judicious use of antibiotics. We hope this study provides scientific evidence that doctors can use with patients to explain that an antibiotic is not likely to help an acute sinus infection” as one in five antibiotics in the U.S. are prescribed for sinusitis.

“It’s a nasty disease,” Garbutt says. “People have significant symptoms. They feel miserable and miss time from work. If an antibiotic is not going to be of any benefit, then what is? That’s a question we haven’t answered yet. But we are working on it.”

Source:
SayPeople

Via:
Washington University in St. Louis