Health
Sinusitis study supports treatment with antifungals
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 1, 2004
People with chronic sinus inflammation were found to have an exaggerated immune response to common airborne fungi showing a possible immunologic basis for chronic sinusitis.
Research results published in the Oct. 12 online edition of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology demonstrate a possible starting point for a better understanding of the condition, which was diagnosed in nearly 30 million people in the United States in 2002.
Despite its prevalence, the condition is poorly understood, said Marshall Plaut, MD, chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the study.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., compared blood samples taken from 18 people diagnosed with chronic sinusitis with samples from 15 healthy volunteers. Nasal secretions from the two groups were also examined for fungal proteins and inflammation-causing immune system molecules.
There has been some controversy over earlier reports by Mayo scientists that patients with chronic sinusitis can be successfully treated with antifungal agents because the results of those studies were not able to be replicated by others. This study, said Hirohito Kita, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, supports the rationale of treating chronic sinusitis with antifungals.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/11/01/hlbf1101.htm.
