Short (5 Days) Versus Long (14 Days) Duration of Antimicrobial Therapy for Acute Bacterial Sinusitis in Children

Inclusion Criteria:

1. children with nasal discharge (of any quality) or daytime cough (which may be worse
at night) or both persisting for 10 days or more without evidence of improvement.

2. families need to be English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

1. used antibiotics within the last 15 days;

2. had symptoms for > 30 days;

3. have concurrent streptococcal pharyngitis or acute otitis media (as the standard
doses for both of these conditions is 10 days);

4. are allergic to penicillin;

5. have symptoms that suggest a complication due to acute bacterial sinusitis that
necessitates hospitalization, intravenous antibiotics or sub-specialty evaluation

6. been diagnosed with either immunodeficiency or anatomic abnormality of the upper
respiratory tract

7. history of recurrent acute sinusitis (more than 3 episodes in 6 months or 4 episodes
in a year)

8. history of chronic sinusitis (more than 90 days of respiratory symptoms in this or
the previous respiratory season)

9. girls who have begun menstruating