Is amoxacillin an adequate agent for the treatment of sinusitis?
A recent study by Garbutt and associates evaluated the effect of amoxicillin treatment over symptomatic treatments for adults with clinically diagnosed acute sinusitis. They performed a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 166 adults with uncomplicated, acute sinusitis between 2006 and 2009. Patients were randomized to receive a 10 days course of either amoxicillin ( 85 patients) or placebo (81 patients). All received a supply of symptomatic treatments for pain, fever, cough, and nasal congestion to use as needed. On day 3 of treatment, there was no difference in improvement between placebo-takers and those prescribed antibiotics. On day 7, the antibiotic group reported a slight improvement that the researchers said was unlikely to represent a noticeable relief in symptoms, but that edge disappeared by day 10, when 80 percent of patients in both groups reported they felt better or cured. The main problem in this study is that many of the patients included in it may hav