Acute bacterial sinusitis
You may have acute sinusitis—which affects one in eight adults per year, according to Healthline—but there’s a good chance that you don’t have the type that requires antibiotics. ‘The vast majority of sinusitis, which is the inflammation of the sinuses thus resulting in nasal discharge, face pain, and pressure, is viral in nature,’ says Dana Neutze, MD, PhD, UNC School of Medicine Assistant Professor, Family Medicine. ‘We suspect it is bacterial only if symptoms have persisted for at least 10 days.’
So, don’t beg your doctor for a prescription. ‘Taking antibiotics for viral sinusitis does nothing for the condition,’ adds Dr. Neutze, ‘but can cause diarrhea, a secondary infection [caused by a bacteria] called Clostridium difficile, or lead to resistance of bacteria to antibiotics in the future.’
