Antibiotics do not improve sinusitis symptoms, study shows. Primary care physicians (family doctors) commonly prescribe antibiotics to treat acute maxillary sinusitis (inflamed membranes of the sinuses), although there is no evidence that this approach is effective. A report in the British medical Journal the Lancet found that antibiotics did nothing more than the placebos used as the control. Study subjects were all referred by family doctors who thought antibiotic treatment was called for because of the severity of the symptoms. The patients were given either antibiotics or a placebo and the progress of their symptoms (headache, increase of pain in the face on bending, nasal obstruction, and nasal discharge) was checked by ear, nose, and throat specialist after one and two weeks. All patients were asked to report to their doctors any relapses that occurred during the year following treatment. After two weeks the results for the two groups were similar. Symptoms had greatly improved or disappeared in 83% of the antibiotic group and in 77% of the placebo group, which was not considered a significant difference. One year after treatment the number of relapses did not differ significantly between the patients treated with antibiotics and those treated with placebo. Although this report merely confirms what other researchers have found in the past, medical doctors continue to treat patients with antibiotics. In recent years, the overuse of antibiotics has been the cause of major deterioration in human immune system responses and according to the World Health Organizations may be a direct cause of the outbreak of worldwide epidemics such as Ebola and even aids.

Source Lancet March 8, 1997

World Health Report, 1996 World Health Organization Geneva Switzerland May 1996