In most cases, following cold and flu virus invasion via upper respiratory system, some symptoms around the sinuses become very perceptible. It causes inflammation of the mucous membranes with the rise in mucous secretions and often a feelong of tightness and sinus pressure around the face. The common symptoms like fever, headache people associate with sinusitis, actually are due to the viral infections or the flu that set the stage for it. In other words, the symptoms of URI primarily overshadow those of sinusitis. As the virus wages its own course, there is no certainty to sinusitis prevention. But if sinuses remain open and drain freely, it helps early recovery with a cycle of ten days or so.
It is widely believed that the inflammatory reaction to virus leads to lower oxygen supply and ciliary defects. The cilia are the microscopic hair-lines around the respiratory passage and they play important functions in moving along the overlying mucous blanket. As a result of viral URI , the mucous membranes around nose, throat, sinuses, ear, wind pipe, get swelled. It is important to note that mucociliary clearance is essential to clearance of the mucous from the respiratory tract so that sinuses are kept healthy. The resultant inflammation as a result of respiratory infections, often close the sinuses, thereby turning the capillary bed the solely available source of oxygen. As a consequence, leukocytes gain entry into the area and engender the secretion of the enzymes elastase and collagenase, that ravage cells and prevent ciliary movement. Thus influenza virus infects the most cells and lead to considerable destruction of cells.
