Introduction
Sinuses are air cavities in the bones around the nose. The bones main function is to protect the brain by acting as shock absorbers protecting the brain against impact, sinuses helps in minimizing the brains weight. Infection of these air cavities is termed as sinusitis. The overviews in this infection will include the causes of sinus infection, different types of the infection, the symptoms associated with sinusitis, and the possible cure of the infection. These overviews will help you understand all about sinus infection.
Causes and Types of Sinus Infection
The overviews on causes are very straight forward and easy to understand. The known causes of sinusitis are bacterium, virus and fungus, these pathogens causes blocking of the sinus trapping air and secretion within the sinus, this in turn leads to the inflammation of the sinuses, inflammation then makes the sinus tissue swell hence making one go through a lot of pain and discomfort.
Sinusitis is not only caused by pathogenic microorganism, while going through the sinusitis overviews one cannot miss the fact that allergies are also important causes of sinus infection since they affect someone throughout their entire life. The main factor when it comes to allergies is the environment, allergies which affect the nasal passage can cause sinus infection, and one might be allergic to pollen or dust hence triggering a sinus infection. Smokers are more prone to sinusitis because the smoke causes irritation.
The overviews will also include the types of sinusitis that exist; the types of sinusitis are based on the time duration of the infection. Acute sinusitis is whereby the infection has progressed for less than 30 days. The other type of sinusitis is sub acute in which the infection has progressed over a month but below 3 months. Now the last type of sinusitis from the overviews based on time duration is the chronic sinus infection. In this particular sinus infection the time duration is above 3 months of infection progression.
Apart from time another factor that determines the type of sinus infection is the cause. Sinus infection caused by pathogenic microorganism is infectious while the non infectious sinus infection is caused by allergies and irritants. Failure to treat acute sinusitis leads to subacute and later chronic sinus infections. Even if at some point sinusitis can become infectious it is rarely contagious. There is also the recurring sinusitis that reoccurs with time.
Symptoms and Treatment of Sinus Infection
Sinusitis has various symptoms that have to be mentioned when looking at its overviews. The symptoms include colored nasal discharge, sore throat, coughing or sneezing, headache, pain in the upper jaw and in some people ear pain, fever, nasal stuffiness and fatigue. If the mentioned symptoms persist one should see a doctor.
For treatment antibiotics are used so as to kill the pathogens especially in the case of bacteria, antibiotic drug such as amoxicillin clavulanate is widely in treatment of sinusitis. Other medications used include mucus reducing agents and decongestants. At home one should take hot fluids and inhale steam, this aids in unblocking ones nasal passage. If sinus infection is not treated it can lead to pneumonia, bronchitis or ear infections.
Conclusion
The above overviews cover major information about sinus infection helping you to understand all that the infection entails.
