The flu is not just a common cold, it triggers symptoms that are much more brutal and bothersome. What are the symptoms of the flu?

Medical treatment for influenza

• Rest: this is the first treatment and it should last several days.
• Drink water well because fever dehydrates. This is even more essential in children who become easily dehydrated (and this can be serious) and in the elderly who feel less thirsty.
• Take a medicine against fever: paracetamol preferably, or ibuprofen. And do not combine drugs.
• Do not take antibiotics (effective on bacteria) because they have no effectiveness in influenza which is caused by a virus and not a bacteria.
• Wash your hands regularly to avoid spreading the virus.
• Wear a mask if you have very young children or elderly people around you.
• Ventilate your room well every day as well as your home.

There are antiviral drugs that are effective against the influenza virus because they prevent the virus from multiplying. But these drugs are used relatively little. Indeed, for them to be effective, they must be taken very quickly in order to block the multiplication of the first viruses. Once the viruses are very numerous, these drugs are no longer effective.

They must therefore be taken before being sick (!) Or at the latest in the first two days of the disease. They can then prevent the disease or shorten it by one to two days. But they have not been shown to reduce the risk of complications (Cochrane).

Flu medications

• Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) and zanamivir shorten the duration of the flu by as little as a day and do not decrease the number of people hospitalized. They can nevertheless reduce the risk of influenza as a preventive measure. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers their effect modest.
• Amantadine (Mantadix®) and rimantadine are no longer recommended for influenza, because of their limited efficacy, and the lack of knowledge about their safety. These drugs have been used in the recent past.

Preventive treatment for influenza

It is the influenza vaccine specially indicated for the elderly in whom it decreases mortality on average by 70 to 80%.

In women wishing to start a pregnancy, it is also strongly indicated because the flu can be the cause of a miscarriage.

The vaccine is formulated differently each year because the virus evolves each year. Thus, some years it is more effective than others, because the vaccine must be prepared before the onset of the epidemic and researchers must therefore choose the formulation before knowing exactly the type of virus circulating.

Complementary treatments for influenza

As medical treatments are not very effective, there are additional treatments available:

In prevention: Ginseng, echinacea, astragalus, ginger …

In treatment once the disease has set in: Andrographis, echinacea, homeopathy, black elderberry, acupuncture, Chinese pharmacopoeia …

For information on the use of these treatments, see our file on flu treatments.