Ask any doctor- your GP or your ENT specialist- and they'll tell you that upper respiratory tract infections (URI) are the most frequently encountered illness in their practice.
Two of these, the common cold and sinusitis, are misunderstood and mistreated.
These infections may not be fatal but complications can set in and require hospitalization.
Most URIs are caused by viruses.
Only 25 percent are due to bacteria.
Unfortunately, majority of URIs are treated with antibiotic.
As a result, this leads to antibiotic resistance.
Medical specialists state that inappropriate use of antibiotics is the leading cause of antibiotic resistance in community acquired bacteria specifically Streptococcus pneumonia.
The Common Cold You're familiar with those uncomfortable symptoms- nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, cough, hoarseness, body weakness and fever.
The common cold has an acute onset that usually last for a week or less.
The culprits are a variety of viruses which include the coronaviruses, rhinoviruses, influenza and parainfluenza viruses, adenoviruses and respiratory syncytial virus.
Only 0.
5 to 2 percent of common cold cases are caused by bacteria.
Hence, antibiotics aren't indicated and are useless.
  Best ways to tame these symptoms are bed rest ( also, so as not to transmit the virus) and increase your fluid intake.
If you're feeling weak and/or have fever with a temperature above 38o C or above 100o F, paracetamol can ease these symptoms.
Sinusitis  Those air cavities present in your frontal and maxillary bones of your skull are called sinuses.
They are named according to the bones they occupy - the maxillary, ethmoid, sphenoid and frontal sinuses.
When your sinuses are inflamed, the condition is called sinusitis.
  In acute sinusitis, you'll be ill in a span of 4 week or less.
If your sinus condition lasts longer than 12 weeks, you have chronic sinusitis.
  Acute sinusitis Acute sinusitis is caused by the very same viruses of the common cold.
It can also be due to bacteria most commonly by Haemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pneumonia and Moraxella catarrhal.
You'd be feeling facial pain or the pain may be referred to the tooth, nasal congestion, thick nasal discharge, and headache.
The location of the pain in your face, brow or head would indicate just what sinuses are affected.
If you experience exquisite maxillary facial pain, it means your maxillary sinuses are inflamed.
The pain would get worse when you bend down or when you lie down.
Your ENT specialist would determine the causative microorganism.
Actually, it is difficult to determine if the cause is viral, fungal or bacterial as based on your presenting symptoms.
Basically, sinusitis that lasts less than 7 days would be considered viral at most.
On the other hand, 40-50% of sinusitis cases that lasts up to more than a week are caused by bacteria.
If your ENT specialist suspects a fungal etiology, he or she will recommend a biopsy in the affected sinus.
That way, an accurate diagnosis can achieved and the right treatment can be instituted.
  A majority of patients recover without medication.
Your ENT specialist can prescribe oral or topical decongestants to alleviate those uncomfortable symptoms.
If you don't respond to such therapy, a bacterial causation is suspected and you'll be given antibiotics.
If antibiotics fail to treat your sinusitis, surgical drainage or lavage will be done.
Typically, intracranial complications or severe sinusitis have to managed with surgery.
  Chronic Sinusitis On the other hand, if your sinusitis persists for more than 12 weeks despite decongestants and other measures, it can either be bacterial or fungal in nature.
• Chronic bacterial sinusitis You have a chronic bacterial sinusitis if you experience repeated sinusitis.
The cause is traced to an impaired mucociliary clearance of secretions in your sinuses.
Simply put, those cilia - tiny hair like structures in your sinuses - don't do their job of sweeping off mucus.
Then, you constantly suffer from nasal congestion and increasingly intense facial pain and pressure.
Tissue cultures and biopsy will be done to guide your physician to the right treatment.
Also, your ENT specialist will utilize sinus CT scans to determine the severity of your disease and track your progress.
  You'll be managed with the appropriate antibiotics for 3-4 weeks.
If that isn't enough, adjunctive therapies such as nasal irrigation and glucocorticoid intranasal administration are administered to ease congestion and pain.
You'll be evaluated if surgery is the best treatment option.
Sometimes though, despite the aggressive treatment, recurrence is still a woeful occurrence in chronic bacterial sinusitis.
  • Chronic fungal sinusitis If the causative microorganism is a fungus, your condition is a chronic fungal sinusitis.
This crops up in patients with compromised immune systems.
This means your immune system isn't efficient to kill those fungi in your system.
However, chronic fungal sinusitis is a mild, non-invasive disease.
Your trained ENT specialist will do endoscopic surgery to treat the condition even without anti-fungal medications.
In unilateral sinus disease, a fungal ball or mycetoma is usually visualized in the infected sinus.
If you have this unique condition, your ENT specialist will manage it with surgery and anti-fungal medications.
If you have polyps or asthma, you'll be prone to allergic fungal sinusitis.
Misinformation on the nature and treatment of URIs from the common cold to the rare fungal chronic sinusitis can make you suffer more, waste your time, money and effort.
It is always best to consult expert and experienced physicians treating these conditions - the ENT specialists.
They'll offer you the best advice and treatment.
So be wise.