Doctors and public-health officials agree that the most important and effective way to reduce the problems caused by this year's flu and cold viruses is washing hands more frequently.  Soap is the recommended "drug" of choice to prevent the spread of infectious agents.

Treating the person who becomes infected with this year's viruses, however, is a more complicated decision.

Conventional antiviral medications may be indicated in severe cases of influenza, but these powerful drugs are not indicated for use for the average case of the flu or common cold.  In fact, the antivirals can lead to resistant strains of viruses and decreased efficacy of these drugs when they are really needed. 

The challenge to consumers and doctors is that antiviral medication is usually more effective when taken early in the onset of disease, though this typically would be before one knows whether one will get seriously ill.

A conventional flu treatment has been found to cause incidents of serious side effects, including hallucinations in children (its use for children was banned in Japan in 2007), neurological conditions in adults, and complications from interactions with other drugs. In light of such potential problems, consumers and doctors must decide what risks they want to take.

BMJ (the British Medical Journal) reported in August that the normally popular flu-vaccination programs are experiencing significant worldwide resistance from the public as well as physicians.  More than half of the healthcare workers in Hong Kong are refusing to get the swine flu vaccine, and at least 25% of Canada's population is expressing resistance to getting this year's flu shot.

The Hippocratic tradition in medicine encourages the use of safer methods before resorting to more powerful drug treatments, as widely summarized by Hippocrates' most famous dictum, "First, do no harm."  Some consumers and doctors are therefore exploring alternative methods, such as homeopathic medicines, to treat cold and flu symptoms.

"Few people know that homeopathic medicines have a 200-year history of safety and gained widespread popularity throughout the United States and Europe in the 19th century due to its successes in treating the infectious-disease epidemics of that era, including cholera, yellow fever, scarlet fever and influenza," says David Riley, M.D., internal-medicine physician and editor in chief of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine magazine. 

In addition to the historical evidence, Dr. Riley said, "There have been numerous scientific studies that verify the efficacy of homeopathic medicines. One double-blind and placebo-controlled randomized study showed that a homeopathic medicine called Engystol (injection solution dosage form) reduced by over 30% the length and the severity of influenza and the common cold symptoms."   These positive clinical results are consistent with basic science research showing that Engystol ampoules increase immune function through raising the percentage of interferon-producing lymphocytes. 

The effectiveness of another homeopathic remedy, called Gripp-Heel (tablet and injection dosage forms), was compared with that of conventional treatments in a prospective, observational cohort study in 485 patients with mild viral infections and symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, cough or sore throat. As evaluated by the practitioners, 67.9% of patients were considered asymptomatic at the end of Gripp-Heel therapy versus 47.9% of patients in the control group. Practitioners judged homeopathic treatments as "successful" in 78.1% of cases versus 52.2% for conventional therapies. Tolerability and compliance were found to be "very good" for 88.9% of patients in the homoeopathic group versus 38.8% in the conventional-treatment group.

For consumers who want to consider taking alternative medications, homeopathic medicines, available through health practitioners, provide an option for treating symptoms of flu.