Hi, I doubt you have the swine flu if you were able to walk from pharmacy to pharmacy and write your post without it feeling like a herculean task (do humans get the avian flu??). This is what I did when I woke up one morning with a very high fever, a throat that felt like I'd swallowed glass and feeling so weak I could barely walk or see straight:
1. Stumbled down to the independent pharmacy next to building I lived in, where the incredibly kind folks working there took pity on me, took me to the back room to take my temperature, and explained to me that since I had such a high fever I should go to the hospital since they couldn't give my what I most likely needed without a prescription.
2. Took a cab four blocks to Swiss Medical since I could barely walk and was delirious. (Had no health insurance at the time and the pharmacy folks recommended it to me since I would have had to wait hours in the public hospital.) Waited 45 minutes in the emergency room, pinching myself to stay conscious.
3. Got called back, got a lung x-ray, a throat culture, etc. Waited around for the results. I was alone, in maybe my fourth month in BA and quite terrified as well as delirious, so a nice secretary took it upon herself to acompany me when they sent me down the block to another building to talk to someone about my results.
4. Was told I probably had the swine flu, and was given several prescriptions. Took a cab back to the same pharmacy, where the same people gave me my medication. Whole thing with the meds came out to around U.S. $150 two and a half years ago.
Conclusion: Unless things have changed, you need a prescription for proper flu medication. Especially if you have a fever, Ceviche's suggestion of hopping in a cab and heading to one of the private hospitals if you have no insurance and are willing to pay out of pocket sounds like a good one to me. This was the best experience I ever had in my many, many experiences with healthcare in Buenos Aires. The efficiency as well as the multiple random acts of kindness were something I never experienced at anywhere near the same level again in a medical context. Was a big fan of Swiss Medical for that reason and would have signed up with their insurance plan had OSDE not been cheaper. But again, this was a while ago now. Good luck and get well soon!
, because it has the old fashioned pseudoefedrin to decongest. If you have strep then you will get antibiotics. You can buy antibiotics over the counter without a prescription. Amoxidal duo is amoxicillin and clavulinic acid, that is the most common for strep.