You could try draining the lungs. But that won't work, as fluids will just continue building. If you can counter the part where the patient drowns on his own blood, they'll eventually just bleed to death. We don't have the resources to slow the disease enough. Besides, Influenza causes fevers that can kill all by themselves. Normal flu, when it has fatalities, is usually the fever that kills. Avian and Spanish won't cause too much worse a fever, it'll just last for days instead of hours. You can't keep a weakened body on anti-fever drugs that long without doing more harm than good.
There is ONE type drug that might work. They're used against HIV that kill viral infected cells. A virus enters a cell and starts over-riding the cell's function, making it produce more virii. This kills the cell, regardless. But these drugs COULD fight the infection that way. Only one problem- the price tag on this stuff is disturbingly high, and it will only slow the disease, not stop it.
No, in two years, we won't have a cure. In five, we won't have a cure. In 10, we MIGHT have a cure. In 20, we may have a cure. In 30, we'll probably have a cure. By then, of course, it won't matter much.
You're right on one thing- we'll probably be safe this winter. Cold weather weakens flu strains, they die in cold air. Actual death, not dormancy.
