Nasal fungus can cause chronic sinus infections and may require surgery and antifungal medication. Antibiotics should not be used as they can kill necessary bacteria. People with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of developing invasive fungal sinusitis. Treatment may include corticosteroid nasal sprays and antifungal agents, but relapse is possible. Surgery may be necessary to remove fungi and improve the effectiveness of medication. A simple treatment for nasal fungi is still missing.
Nasal fungus is any form of fungus that invades the nose or sinus passages. This is a serious condition that has been studied as potentially responsible for many long-term or chronic sinus infections. The worst thing to do when a fungal infection is present is to use antibiotics, as these can kill the necessary bacteria that could be fighting the fungus. While there are no comprehensive studies available on this topic, there may be a real reason for determining the type of infection when people have chronic sinusitis.
Almost any area of the body can be prone to fungal overgrowth, and nasal fungus demonstrates this clearly. There is always a certain amount of fungus in the nose, but if it grows too much, it can create fungus balls that cause pressure in the sinuses, resulting in congestion and a runny nose. Occasionally, nasal fungus also causes polyps to grow. Both of these situations may require surgery and additional treatment.
A certain population appears to be at great risk for developing nasal fungal infections which can dramatically affect the sinuses. People with depleted immune systems, especially those with advanced AIDS or who have or are currently being treated for cancer, may not have the resources to adequately reduce the normal fungal population. They can develop a condition called invasive fungal sinusitis, which can be life threatening without treatment. You may need surgery and prolonged antifungal medications to address this problem.
Some people just seem to have an inflammatory response to higher than normal populations of nasal fungi and this, in some cases, could be why people get chronic sinusitis. This isn’t fully proven, but it appears that in preliminary studies, at least some cases of chronic sinusitis are not bacterial in nature, and knowing this makes it easy to understand why some sinus infections seem to resist treatment no matter how many antibiotics are used.
With preliminary studies, doctors have a new way to treat chronic sinusitis. Instead of using antibiotics, the treatment could have several components. These could include the use of corticosteroid nasal sprays and oral or spray antifungal agents. In studies conducted by the Mayo Clinic in the early 2000s, treatment appeared to take a long time and may require people to stay on medication for several months before getting relief. Additionally, the Mayo study notes that relapse was certainly possible, and many people needed more than one course of treatment to recover.
This may be one reason why nasal fungus is treated with surgery in many cases. Being able to remove as many fungi as possible means that any medicine after surgery has fewer fungi to fight. Despite the discoveries of doctors, a simple treatment for nasal fungi is still missing, although it is certainly hoped that it will evolve in the very near future.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
