Mar-17: IN A CAPSULE
Usually, no antibiotic needed for sinus infections
Doctors may not immediately prescribe an antibiotic for sinus infections. This is because most are viral, not bacterial. So, powerful antibiotics do little to help. Even when bacteria cause sinusitis, it usually clears up on its own without drugs.
In a study of 166 adults with sinusitis, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), amoxicillin proved no better than a placebo at reducing symptoms after three days. In the case of long-lasting or severe infections with high fever, your doctor is likely to prescribe an antibiotic.
