Possible Solutions/ Treatments/ Prevention

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There are no drugs that can cure influenza and no reasonable way to avoid it. The vaccine is really the only defense.

However, since there is so many variations of this virus, a vaccine each year is really a guess as to the most common virus to be seen that year. For example, the CDC studies 1,500 flue virus samples from 120 laboratories around the world. Then, in March 1994 they decide to make a vaccine from three strains: A-Texas, B-Panama, A-Shangdong. 70 million doses are manufactured by four drug companies for use that fall. (Contrary to the movie outbreak, vaccines don't take two minutes to make.) Immunity develops one to two weeks after the shots.

The vaccine is made from dead viruses so people can't get the flue from a flu shot. However, people allergic to eggs should avoid the vaccine since they are grown in chicken eggs. The vaccine can reduce the rate of occurrence in people over 60 by half. If people do get the flu even though they're vaccinated, they usually experience milder symptoms.

Links

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/flu/fluvirus.htm