The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a new wave of additional antibiotic treatments. | stock photo
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a new wave of additional antibiotic treatments. | stock photo
Recent studies suggest that increased antibiotic use for treatments of COVID-19 may result in people developing antibiotic immunity, according to a report by BioWorld.
Dr. John Ditto, a physician from the Richmond Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers, said that one of the dangers associated with antibiotic immunity is the possibility of super-resistant organisms that are not treatable by conventional procedures.
"Then you have an infection that you can't manage, which can lead to complications because apparently nasal sinuses are adjacent to the eye and to the brain," Ditto told North Richmond Today. "So it can lead to orbital infections and also brain infections, potentially meningitis and brain abscess."
Additionally, Ditto stated that some types of chronic sinusitis are inflammatory disorders that cannot be treated with medication, since medications are used to kill microorganisms.
"To treat chronic sinusitis, I tell patients to think of your chronic sinusitis like rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis or lupus. You have an inflammatory disorder, and that's why we have you on steroids and that's why you improve, " he said. "So what we found is that treating with antibiotics only if you have a sinus infection is effective, but most chronic sinusitis, it needs to be managed with non-antibiotics."
A study that examined the long-term results of balloon dilation, one of the treatments offered at the Richmond Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers, discovered that the number of antibiotic courses averaged approximately 4.5 before treatment and decreased to 1.6 after treatment, according to the medical journal The Laryngoscope. This shows that one way to reduce antibiotic use in sinus patients is for them to have this minimally invasive, in-office procedure, which is highly effective and has a very short recovery period.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that between one-third and half of all antibiotic usage in humans is "unnecessary or inappropriate," according to Mayo Clinic.
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