Google Trends on Sinusitis, 1.1.2010 - Are you just a dinosaur that needs fresh air, like me?

Had you lived a few hundred years ago, chances are you wouldn't be suffering form sinusitis. Why? Because the air was cleaner that it is today. 

Why are there so many additional cases of sinusitis reported in major metropolitan areas over the last years? Different studies show that air pollution seems to be one important cause for acute and chronic sinusitis and the dramatic increase in sinusitis rates during the last years. It is worth mentioning that the cities listed by google trends (r) are amongst the cities with strong air pollution: Santiago (Chile), Jakarta (Indonesia), Monterrey (Mexico), Lima (Peru), Mexico City (Mexico), Caracas (Venezuela), Bogota (Columbia), Madrid (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Delhi (India). 

Obviously, there are many other heavily polluted cities which are not on the list, simply because medical care is less accessible, and also because Sinusitis is not called "sinusitis". 

I invite sinusitis sufferers to search pubmed for the key words "air pollution" and "respiratory tract" or "sinusitis". Chances are that you conclude you want to leave the city if you are a dinosaur that needs the fresh air that existed thousands of years before you lived in downtown London, Mexico or Delhi.

Today, on 1.1.2010, I have searched google trends for the word sinusitis and found the above.

I will write about the topic of air pollution and other environmental factors and what this all might mean for the optimal lifestyle of sinusitis sufferers. 

Kind regards, 

Marcus

Chinese Translation (May contain errors)

谷歌趋势的鼻窦炎，2010年1月1日 - 你只是一个恐龙，需要新鲜的空气和我一样，？
如果你住几百年前，很有可能你就不会痛苦的形式鼻窦 炎。为什么？由于空气清洁，这是今天。

为何会有这种在过去几年主要的大都市地区报告鼻窦炎这 么多的情况？不同的研究表明，空气污染似乎是一对急性和慢性鼻窦炎 和鼻窦炎率在过去几年中急剧增加的重要原因。值得一提的是谷歌趋势上市（R）的城市之间具有较强的 空气污染的城市分别是：圣地亚哥（智利），雅加达（印度尼西亚），蒙特雷（墨西哥），利马（秘鲁），墨西哥城（墨西哥），加拉加斯（委内瑞拉），波哥大（哥伦比亚），马德里（西班 牙），布宜诺斯艾利斯（阿根廷），德里（印度）。

显然，还有许多其他严重污染城市的名单上没有，只是因 为医疗是不太容易，而且还因为鼻窦炎不叫“鼻窦炎”。

我请鼻窦炎患者要搜索的关键词医学“空气污染”和“呼 吸道”或“鼻窦炎”。也许你正在结束你要离开这个城市，如果你是一个恐龙， 需要新鲜空气，数以千计的存在多年之前在伦敦市中心，墨西哥或德里居住。

今天，在2010年1月1日，我已搜索词鼻窦炎谷歌趋 势，发现了上述情况。

我会写的空气污染和其他环境因素，以及所有这一切可 能意味着对鼻窦炎患者的最佳生活方式的话题。

亲切的问候，
马库斯

Part Two of Chapter Three: Sinusitis – a Portrait

A glimpse of the physiology

Inflammation of the paranasal sinuses is what physicians call a rhinosinusitis. Bacterial, fungal, viral infections or allergic reactions can be the cause(s) for the illness.

If you look at the picture below, you will immediately see that there are numerous cavities in your head where sensitive soft tissues exist. Your task is to keep these soft tissues moist, clean and healthy. On the simplified image drawing below, you can see frontal, ethmoid and maxillary sinuses. There are also sphenoid sinuses – below of what we see on the image.

All I want to explain here is that a sinusitis is not a “cold” – it’s not a simple rhinitis. Your sinuses are a sensitive and complex system. The airways to these sinuses must be open, free and healthy. Depending on the location of the inflammation, the problems and the pain can originate from one or several sinus cavities:

• Frontal sinusitis
• Maxillary sinusitis
• Ethmoid sinusitis
• Sphenoid sinusitis

Now you might have learned a few basics. If you haven’t seen this picture before, it will usually have to effect to wake you up. Do not risk neglecting an acute inflammation in one or several of these sensitive, big cavities. A rhinitis can often be the start of this. Furthermore, for many people, a sinusitis will develop as one part of the bigger picture of other respiratory tract diseases. You get tonsillitis and suddenly you also have a developed sinusitis. There are many researchers and scientists who believe that sinusitis is more or less just one part of a bigger number of related diseases occurring in the respiratory tract.

Possible complications – Read this if you think your sinusitis is not worth careful treatment

Do you “only” have an acute sinusitis? You have a lot of work to do and cannot quit smoking? No time to see an ORL? Well, I don’t want to make you nervous, but some people are awkwardly unaffected when they have this condition. If you are not nuts, complications should not occur. However, if you have a viral or bacterial infection, which you don’t handle accordingly, it may produce cause life-threatening situations.

I’ll keep it short. Examples of complications are:

·      Brain / meningitis – The Infection passes through a certain bone structure and may infect the cells that are near the brain. An abscess can develop in the brain if the infection travels to the brain. This is a life threatening condition

·      Eyes – Infections could spread to the orbit, causing complications such as light inflammations of the eyelid to conditions resulting in blindness.

·      Asthma – If you have asthma and a chronic sinusitis, a sinusitis episode can provoke asthma attacks.

·      Fatal infections – due to aneurysms or infected blood clots in the intracranial cavity

·      Permanent loss of smell and taste due to nerve damages

·      Destruction of bone due to chronic sinusitis