Inflammation of the sinuses
Inflammation of the sinuses is widespread in people nowadays, so if you are suffering from a sinus infection, so do not worry, you are not alone. More than 30 million people are infected with a sinus infection in the US only.
In the past years, sinus infection was treated with many medications like allergy tablets, steroids, or was treated with nasal steroid sprays, a saltwater solution, and many other pharmaceutical antibiotics. But these medications temporarily treat the sinus infection. The last option left by the doctors is the sinus infection operation. These treatments are not very effective and give only short term relief to the patients. That is why it is important to known the actual cause of sinusitis and its treatment.
Sinusitis
Sinusitis is known as the inflammation of the sinus lining in the body. It is divided into two types;
Acute sinusitis: Symptoms occur occasionally and last for a short time
Chronic Sinusitis: Symptoms occur for a long time maybe for many weeks
Symptoms
- Stuffy nose
- Feeling of sickness
- Sore throat
- Headaches
- Post nasal drip
- Loss of the sense of smell
- Cough
- Thick nasal mucus
- Facial pain
- Aching teeth
- Clogged ears
The Triggers
To get rid of the pain, fatigue, cough, and other symptoms of the infection, it is essential to know the cause of the disease. Triggers of the disease can have two views.
- Traditional medical View
When harmful bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Haemophilus Influenza invade, then sinusitis develops. Doctors prescribe many antibiotics that will help to kill these harmful bacteria. If the patient takes these antibiotics, but infections keep recurring, so doctors prescribe more antibiotics because it can be the problem of patients’ immune systems.
Resistant Antibiotics
Bacteria become more antibiotic-resistant. When you take more doses of the antibiotics, then the symptoms can appear again and again, and this will lead to the imbalance of healthy bacteria in our sinuses and can increase the chances of the sinusitis, which can easily be triggered from the common cold. Then doctors recommend sinusitis operation if antibiotics are not working for the patient.
- New medical view
After studying the new technology like genetic sequencing, it is proved that sinusitis is due to the imbalanced sinus microbiome. Sinusitis can be treated with probiotics like Lactobacillus sakei.
A microbiome is a microbial community consists of hundreds of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Healthy people have both harmful and beneficial microbes in their microbiome. Problems arise when these harmful bacteria overcome the beneficial bacteria, and this condition leads to sinus infection.
- Other factors
Besides antibiotics, many other factors can cause a sinus infection. Some of these factors are:
- Viral infections
- Environmental toxins
- Nasal polyps
- Pathogenic bio-films
- Nasal septum
Role of Microbiome and Lactobacillus sakei
The human body is composed of many subsystems which perform different essential functions to keep us healthy. Each part of the body consists of a microbiome that spreads from skin to gut then to mouth, eyes, and vagina, and sinuses. Everyone has different and unique microbiome and microbial communities.
Microbiomes for a healthy person is different from the infected person. For example, a person with healthy skin and a person with acne skin both have different microbiomes. Healthy people have normal microbiomes, and people with disorders have imbalanced or dysbiosis microbiomes.
According to research at the University of California, it includes a sinus microbiome that is overpopulated with some bacteria like Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum. It is also proved that people with chronic sinusitis have fewer Lactobacillus sakei and lack the sinus bacteria that are present in healthy people. So according to research, it is concluded that Lactobacillus sakei can help to protect people against pathogens, and harmful bacteria and also promotes sinus health.