The New York Times published a story on Oct 6, 2009 entitled "The Claim: With a Runny Nose, Green Calls for an Antibiotic." It actually is a pretty good article though I'm not sure how much impact this will have in clinical practice.
The story reports that green discharge from the nose is NOT indicative of a bacterial sinus infection and as such, this symptom should not be the sole reason why antibiotics should be prescribed.
It does reference a research paper that backs this claim up. There are others.
In any case, the last sentence of the story is worth reiterating: "THE BOTTOM LINE: The color of nasal discharge should not dictate the medicine."
Not sure how accepting patients will be of this factoid given how ingrained colored discharge has been equated with sinus infection.
I personally have encouraged saline nasal flushes starting from as early as 5 years old as the main treatment for this issue which some patients have been more accepting than others.
