People with sinus infections should not be prescribed antibiotics, because their symptoms are mostly caused by a virus and not by a bacterium, an article published in the March 15 issue of The Lancet revealed.

Sinus infection or sinusitis is one of the most common complications of the common cold or flu. People suffering from sinusitis may experience headaches, pressure in the eyes, cheeks and nose, nasal congestion with thick nasal secretions, cough and fever. Almost one percent to 5 percent of adults are diagnosed with sinusitis every year.

Dr. Jim Young of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland and colleagues looked at data from nine trials with a total of more than 2,500 adult patients with rhinisinusitis who received either antibiotics or placebo. The researchers found that too many patients are receiving antibiotics for sinus infections and related illnesses.

“Antibiotics offer little benefit for patients with acute rhinosinusitis-like complaints. Antibiotics are not justified even if a patient reports symptoms for longer than 7-10 days,” the researchers said in The Lancet.

In the U.S., 80 percent of sinus patients are prescribed an antibiotic while the proportion ranges from 72 percent to 92 percent in Europe.

“What tends to happen in practice is when patients have had symptoms for a while and go see their family doctor the doctor assumes they have a bacterial infection and gives them antibiotics. Our results show that is not a very good strategy,” said Young.

Overuse of antibiotics, which seem to be useless against viruses, may lead to a rapid rise of drug-resistant bacteria, he added.

“The underlying idea is the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. That is fundamentally the problem, which means we need to limit the use of antibiotics to when they are really needed.”

Instead of prescribing antibiotics, doctors should watch and wait for longer to see if they are truly needed, because viral infections, as well as bacterial ones, can last for weeks, the researchers said.

“Our results should reassure physicians that it’s adequate to tell generally healthy adults with rhinosinusitis-like complaints to watch their symptoms and come back of they’re not getting any better. Patients don’t just want drugs, they want relief for their symptoms,” Young said.

Young’s findings mirror those of a study published last March in the Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery that found that U.S. doctors are consistently over prescribing antibiotics for sinus infections.

The research was funded by organizations including the Swiss National Science Foundation and Santesuisse, a group representing Swiss health insurers that has vowed to fight spiraling costs in the Swiss health-care system.