With the advent of MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant infection, doctors are becoming more leery to prescribe antibiotics unless they're sure it's the appropriate treatment. (MRSA has actually been known since the early '60s. It's just become more prevalent in the US in recent years. You may have heard it referred to as a "superbug.") A recent study urges doctors to refrain from prescribing antibiotics for adults with acute sinus problems.

Antibiotics fight bacterial, not viral, infections. It's difficult for doctors to tell when sinus issues are bacterial or viral in nature. The study looked at more than 2,500 adults with acute rhinosinusitis. They used symptoms such as facial pain to determine which infections were likely bacterial and should be treatable with antibiotics. The symptoms proved unreliable however. Out of 15 patients given antibiotics, only one saw relief as a result of the medications. This means the other patients were given antibiotics unnecessarily.