YOU'LL FEEL THE PINCH THIS YEAR: GET THE FLU SHOT

The children of Loyola Medicine colleagues encourage everyone to get a flu shot before flu season takes hold. The flu shot protects children, their family and friends from this truly “yucky” virus. According to the CDC, everyone 6 months of age and older should get the flu vaccine.

Newswise, October 3, 2016 — This year, everyone will have to roll up their sleeves and receive the flu shot via injection, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer recommends the nasal flu mist vaccine due to ineffectiveness.

"Feeling the pinch is a small price to pay to protect your health and, importantly, to protect the health of those more vulnerable to illness," said Jorge Parada, MD, MPH, medical director, infection prevention and control program, Loyola Medicine.

"The message is still loud and clear," said Dr. Parada, a professor in the Division of Infectious Disease of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

"Everyone six months and older should be vaccinated effective immediately. The flu shot is safe and effective and it's a myth that you can get the flu from the flu vaccine."

Flu season traditionally begins in October and ends around April, peaking in January and February.

"It takes almost two weeks after vaccination for the flu shot to become fully effective," said Dr. Parada. "Similarly, it can take four to five days after exposure to the flu virus to develop symptoms."

According to the CDC, the flu kills 3,300 to 49,000 people each year, with children and the elderly particularly vulnerable.

"Unlike many infectious diseases, the flu can be prevented and even eliminated when everyone in a community gets the vaccine," said Dr. Parada.

"Just as a hard hat is necessary safety equipment for construction workers, those of us who work in healthcare know that we need to take special precautions. Getting a flu shot protects ourselves, our patients and our entire community from harm."

Loyola is a leader in infectious disease prevention and is in its seventh season of mandatory flu vaccine as a condition of employment.

Each February, an FDA committee determines which virus strains will go into vaccines sold in America for the coming season. The committee considers which viruses are making people sick in Asia, where the flu season first begins, and the effectiveness of the previous season's vaccine.

According to the CDC, flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses that research suggests will be most common. For 2016-2017, three-component vaccines (trivalent) are recommended to contain:

• A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
• A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus
• B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage)

Four component vaccines (quadrivalent) are recommended to include the same three viruses above, plus an additional B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).

Dr. Parada offers the following tips to protect yourself and your community this flu season:

• Get your flu shot anytime starting now, and certainly before the end of October
• Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently throughout the day
• Cover your mouth and nose with the crook of your arm when you sneeze to limit the spreading of germs
• Stay home if you have the flu

"You'll know you have the flu, and not just a cold, if you also have a fever," said Dr. Parada. "Stay home for two to three days until you are not in danger of infecting others. And remember there are multiple strains of the flu virus so it is possible to get sick with flu more than once during the flu season."

Loyola University Medical Center is one of a few select hospitals who invest in universal screening of all inpatients for MRSA, was the only academic hospital to participate in a national C. difficile study and performs the most accurate testing for bacteria.

More Aggressive Blood Pressure Treatment Found to Reduce Heart Disease and Save Lives

Newswise, September 21, 2015 – Loyola University Chicago is among the centers participating in a landmark clinical trial that has found that more intensive management of high blood pressure reduces heart disease rates and saves lives.

The trial included adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure. It found that adjusting blood pressure medications to achieve a target top number of 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) reduced rates of cardiovascular events by almost a third, and the risk of death by almost a quarter, compared with targeting a top number of 140 mm Hg. (Cardiovascular events include heart attack, heart failure and stroke.)

Loyola University Medical Center enrolled 89 patients in the National Institutes of Health study, called the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT). Initial results were announced Sept. 11.

“This is the first clinical trial to confirm that a more intensive blood pressure regimen improves cardiovascular outcomes,” said Holly Kramer, MD, principal investigator at the Loyola site, along with co-investigator Vinod K. Bansal, MD. Dr. Kramer is an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology and Dr. Bansal is a professor in the Division of Nephrology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Gary H. Gibbons, MD, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the primary sponsor of SPRINT, said: “The study provides potentially lifesaving information that will be useful to health care providers as they consider the best treatment options for some of their patients, particularly those over age 50. We are delighted to have achieved this important milestone in the study in advance of the expected closure date for the SPRINT trial and look forward to quickly communicating the results to help inform patient care and the future development of evidence-based clinical guidelines.”

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and other health problems.

An estimated 1 in 3 people in the United States has high blood pressure.

The SPRINT study evaluates the benefits of maintaining a new target for systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, among a group of patients 50 years and older at increased risk for heart disease or who have kidney disease.

A systolic pressure of 120 mm Hg, maintained by this more intensive blood pressure intervention, could ultimately help save lives among adults age 50 and older who have a combination of high blood pressure and at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, the investigators say.

The SPRINT study, which began in the fall of 2009, includes more than 9,300 participants from about 100 medical centers and clinical practices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. It is the largest study of its kind to examine how maintaining systolic blood pressure at a lower than currently recommended level will affect cardiovascular and kidney diseases. NIH stopped the blood pressure intervention earlier than originally planned in order to quickly disseminate the significant preliminary results.

The study population was diverse and included women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the elderly. The investigators point out that the SPRINT study did not include patients with diabetes, prior stroke, or polycystic kidney disease, as other research included those populations

.

When SPRINT was designed, the well-established clinical guidelines recommended a systolic blood pressure of less than 140 mm Hg for healthy adults and 130 mm Hg for adults with kidney disease or diabetes. Investigators designed SPRINT to determine the potential benefits of achieving systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg.

Between 2010 and 2013, the SPRINT investigators randomly divided the study participants into two groups that differed according to targeted levels of blood pressure control. The standard group received blood pressure medications to achieve a target of less than 140 mm Hg.

They received an average of two different blood pressure medications. The intensive treatment group received medications to achieve a target of less than 120 mm Hg and received an average of three medications.