What to Do If You Get Sick this Influenza Season

If you catch influenza, get plenty of rest, drink a lot of liquids, and avoid using alcohol and tobacco. Also, you can take medications to relieve the symptoms of flu (but never give aspirin to ill children or teenagers without first speaking to your doctor).

If, however, your flu symptoms are unusually severe (for example, if you are having trouble breathing), you should contact your health-care provider right away.

If you are at special risk from complications of flu, you should consult your health-care provider when your flu symptoms begin. This includes people 65 years of age or older, people with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women, or children.  Your doctor may choose to use certain antiviral drugs to treat the flu.

Treatment

Four antiviral drugs (amantadine, rimantadine, zanamivir, and oseltamivir) can be used to treat influenza. All of them must be prescribed by a doctor. Antiviral treatment lasts for 5 days and must be started within the first 2 days of illness. These drugs cannot cure influenza immediately, but they can help you get better a day or two quicker. These are the only drugs that are effective against influenza. Antibiotics do not work against influenza.

On the basis of antiviral testing results conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in Canada indicating high levels of resistance, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that neither amantadine nor rimantadine be used for the treatment of influenza A in the United States until susceptibility to these antiviral medications has been re-established among circulating influenza A viruses.  Oseltamivir or zanamivir can be prescribed if antiviral treatment of influenza is indicated.   Click here for more information.