Written by Dr. Pete Zemo, WOC Fitness

During the recent cold weather I have talked to many members at our gym with U.R.I.s (colds). During our discussions I ask what they are doing for it (my specialty when in active practice was E.N.T.). Distressingly, many of them told me they went to their medical doc, were told they had ‘sinusitis’ and were given an antibiotic. With the growing overuse of antibiotics and the rapid developing resistance of bacterial strains, I felt compelled to write this article.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association took 150 people from ages 18 to 70 years old with sinus-related symptoms for 7 – 28, that included facial pain, nasal congestion, drainage, and cough. Half were given pain meds, decongestants, and a placebo instead of an antibiotic. The rest were all treated symptomatically plus an antibiotic. In a nutshell, all got better with little difference between the groups. The doctors who did the study stated “Nobody disputes that some of these patients had a bacterial rather than a purely viral infection and would benefit from an antibiotic, but the problem is we don’t know who they are.”

They point out that one in five adult antibiotic prescriptions in the US is for the treatment of sinusitis, but 80% of them get better on their own within 10 days. Yet, about 90% of people that go to the doc’s office and get the diagnosis of sinusitis will be given an antibiotic. In our practice, we had ways of diagnosing severe bacterial sinusitis, including x-rays and sinus cultures, but most docs don’t bother with these, no have the expertise to interpret the results. Yet, antibiotic treatment for U.R.I.s is often both expected by the patient and prescribed by the physician. Patients also often quickly discover that if you go into a doc’s busy office and pester him or her enough, you will get an antibiotic to get you out the door.

The bottom line is not to assume that antibiotics in these situations will get you quickly back to work. You should really question the reasons for the use of these drugs before the superbugs (bacteria resistant to all common antibiotics) appear. Now that’s a truly scary thought.

*As featured in Eastern Shore Golf Magazine.