COMPLICATIONS OF RHINITIS: INFECTED SINUSESThe medical term for what we commonly refer to as our sinuses is the paranasal sinuses (para means around or near; and sinus means space or hollow). The paranasal sinuses are empty spaces in the bones of the face and head that surround and connect with the nasal cavities. They are lined with the same membrane that lines the nose, and drain into the nose cavity via openings called ostia. There are four paranasal sinuses:      The Maxillary Sinuses       The Ethmoid Sinuses       The Frontal Sinuses       The Sphenoid Sinuses      Each is named for the bone(s) of the skull in which they lie.
What Sinuses DoAs far as we know, the sinuses have six main functions:1. Lighten the weight of the skull.2. Act as chambers to resonate our voices.3. Warm the air as we breathe it.4. Humidify the air as we breathe it.5. Protect the interior of the skull from injury.6. Act as insulators to keep the base of the brain, which is close to the inside of the nose, warm.
SinusitisSinusitis is a common complication of chronic rhinitis, whether allergic, chemical, irritant, or infectious. Sinusitis is a medical term that most people use to refer to any infection of the sinuses. Literally, sinusitis means an inflammation of the sinuses. That inflammation can be caused by a variety of factors, but the most common cause of inflammation of the sinuses is infection.Generally speaking, sinusitis evolves in a four-step sequence.1. Mucus Production Increases. Whatever the triggering factor – allergen, infectious agent (cold virus or bacteria), chemical pollutant, or toxic agent – the end result is stimulation of the membrane lining of the sinuses to make substantially more mucus than normal.2. Ciliary Clearance of Sinus Debris Decreases. At the same time that more mucus is being made, the little hair-like cells lining the mucous membrane (the cilia) lose their ability to sweep the mucus out of the sinuses.3. Closure of the opening of the Sinuses into the Nasal Cavity Occurs. While the cilia are losing their ability to clear the sinuses of debris, chemicals, and germs, the openings of the sinuses into the nasal cavity close because of swelling of the lining of the nose, making clearing impossible.4. Infectious Agents Flourish. In the now dark, wet environment of the nose, trapped viral or bacterial agents multiply and sinus injury continues.
Infectious Organisms That Commonly Cause Sinusitis1. Viruses: The same organisms that cause the common cold are the most common causes of sinusitis.2. Bacteria: A variety of bacteria cause sinusitis. Names like Diplococcus, hemophilus influenza (not the flu germ), beta Streptococcus (as in strep throat), E. coli (as in diarrhea), and Staphlococcus aureus are the most common.*58/322/5*

If the allergic history and skin tests are not conclusive, the Rast test may be used. This test works on the principle of an allergen reacting with its specific antibody in the blood serum of an allergic patient. It is safe, convenient, accurate, time-saving, and less traumatic than skin testing, but it is costly and not always available.

After the allergic history and the skin or Rast tests have been done, all the positive findings should be recorded in the following summary which must be kept in the physician’s records and should also be kept by the school nurse, the camp doctor, and the child’s parents.

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Dr Rix, who is a psychiatrist, examined half the patients. He identified a variety of mild psychiatric problems, principally neurotic depression and anxiety neurosis, in 86 per cent of them. The conclusion the doctors reached, given the apparently poor response to food testing, was that the psychological problems were affecting the bowel, rather than the other way round, in the majority of patients.

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