- Most cases of flu, including H1N1 flu, require only symptom relief.

- If you have a chronic respiratory disease, your doctor may prescribe additional medication to help relieve your symptoms.

- The antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are sometimes prescribed to reduce the severity of symptoms, but flu viruses can develop resistance to them.

- Some researchers recommend further study on both of these drugs due to uncertainty about their effects beyond the initial reduction in symptoms.

- To make development of resistance less likely and maintain supplies of these drugs for those who need them most, antivirals are reserved for people at high risk of complications.

- In swine, As swine influenza is rarely fatal to pigs, little treatment beyond rest and supportive care is required. Instead, veterinary efforts are focused on preventing the spread of the virus throughout the farm, or to other farms. Vaccination and animal management techniques are most important in these efforts. Antibiotics are also used to treat this disease, which although they have no effect against the influenza virus, do help prevent bacterial pneumonia and other secondary infections in influenza-weakened herds.