Sinus infection or Sinusitis facts
- Sinusitis or sinus infection is inflammation of the air cavities within the passages of the nose.
- Sinusitis can be caused by infection, allergies, and chemical or particulate irritation of the sinuses.
- Most people do not spread sinus infections to other people.
Sinusitis may be classified as acute sinus infection, subacute sinus infection, chronic sinus infection, infected sinusitis, and noninfectious sinusitis.
Humans have four pair of these cavities each referred to as the:
- frontal sinus (in forehead),
- maxillary sinus (behind cheeks),
- ethmoid sinuses (between the eyes), and
- sphenoid sinus (deep behind the ethmoids).
Sinusitis signs and symptoms include
- sinus headache,
- facial tenderness,
- pressure or pain in the sinuses, in the ears and teeth,
- fever,
- cloudy discolored nasal or postnasal drainage,
- feeling of nasal stuffiness,
- sore throat,
- cough, and occasionally facial swelling.
