Newswise — ROCHESTER, Minn. — It seems you can’t go anywhere these days without hearing “the flu this” or “the flu that.” Unfortunately, this season’s influenza outbreak is one of the worst in years. And it’s not just the flu virus that’s causing problems; there are also many myths about the flu that are keeping people from doing more to prevent it. Mayo Clinic infectious diseases and vaccine expert Gregory Poland, M.D., dispels some of the most common:

MULTIMEDIA ALERT: A hand-washing demo with glow-in-the-dark germs and video clips of Dr. Poland are available for journalists to download on the Mayo Clinic News Network

Myth No. 1: Flu vaccines can give me the flu
False. Injectable flu vaccines are composed of pieces of inactivated flu proteins — and it’s impossible for them to “cause” flu. The nasal spray vaccine has live flu organisms weakened so they cannot multiply or cause disease.

Myth No. 2: Flu shots never work anyway, so why bother?
Also false. When there is a good match between the viruses causing disease and those in the vaccine, protection is excellent in otherwise healthy people. Protection is lower if you are unhealthy or in the frail elderly group. But vaccines are like seat belts: They are not perfect but they are the best protection we have against serious injury and death.

Myth No. 3: Flu vaccines are dangerous, especially for pregnant women
Also false. Concerns about pregnant women getting vaccinated began when women were advised not to get any kind of vaccination during pregnancy, Dr. Poland says. Today’s flu vaccines are safe for expectant mothers and highly recommended. A recent large study demonstrated significant increases in maternal death among unvaccinated women infected with influenza. However, because they have not been studied in pregnant women, pregnant women should stay away from nasal flu vaccines, which do contain live, weakened flu virus, Dr. Poland says.

Myth No. 4: It’s too late to get vaccinated
Again, false. While it’s always better to get vaccinated before flu season begins — it can take about two weeks for the vaccination to take full effect — it’s never too late to get a flu vaccine, Dr. Poland says. Even if you didn’t get vaccinated and caught the flu, get a flu vaccine to protect yourself against the other strains that are circulating, Dr. Poland says.

Myth No. 5: It’s just the flu. What’s the big deal?
Once again, false. While it might be “just” the flu, Dr. Poland says we should still be concerned, regardless of our age or physical condition. In an average year, up to 40,000 Americans die from influenza and its complications, and over 250,000 are hospitalized. Millions are sick, miss school, work, and important events and spend money on over-the-counter “cold remedies.” Complications and death are particularly frequent in infants and young children, those with chronic medical conditions, the elderly, pregnant women and people who are obese. Health care providers also should get immunized to prevent spreading flu to vulnerable patients, Dr. Poland says.

“No one should confuse influenza with a “minor illness.” Serious complications and death result every year due to flu. Vaccines, while imperfect, offer the best protection available for you and your family, as well as others you come in contact with,” says Dr. Poland, the Mary Lowell Leary Professor of Medicine and director of the Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Poland offers these tips for sidestepping illness:
*Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently with soap and warm water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer, particularly before leaving a restroom, eating or touching your face. Wash your hands for about 20 seconds, about as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.” When visiting a public restroom, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door when leaving.
*Keep your vaccines up to date: Besides the seasonal flu shot, the most important ones include the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella and a relatively new vaccine called Tdap, for tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, or whooping cough.
*Don’t smoke: It can make you more susceptible to illness in general.
*Be an advocate for your health: If someone near you is ill, move away or ask to be reseated, if you can. If a server’s hands touch your food or the rim of your glass, don’t be embarrassed or hesitant about asking for a new serving or moving on and eating elsewhere.
To interview Dr. Poland or other Mayo Clinic flu experts, please contact Mayo Clinic Public Affairs at 507-284-5005 (days), 507-284-2511 (evenings) or via email at newsbureau@mayo.edu.
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Newswise — SAN FRANCISCO — A commonly used erectile dysfunction drug, sildenafil, doesn’t help patients who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a condition in which the heart’s lower chambers are stiff and cannot relax and fill fully between beats. That is the finding of the RELAX study, presented today at the American College of Cardiology’s 62nd Annual Scientific Session and simultaneously published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study’s lead author called the results disappointing.

Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, had shown encouraging results in smaller studies and in animal models.

In this study, researchers looked at the drug’s effect on maximum exercise ability as assessed by peak oxygen consumption and on how far people could walk in six minutes, their clinical status and their heart structure and function. They found no benefit, says lead author Margaret Redfield, M.D., heart failure specialist and researcher at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“It was surprising and a disappointment, and it was contradictory to our hypothesis,” says Dr. Redfield. “There are few options for help for these patients, and we hoped we would find something.”

When the heart does not pump blood well, heart failure symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue and weakness can result.

The RELAX study is the first multicenter trial to look at the effect of therapy with sildenafil on this condition, also known as diastolic heart failure. The study was a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial of 216 stable outpatients with heart failure (with an ejection fraction of greater than 50 percent) with reduced exercise capacity; the median age was 69. Participants were enrolled during a
3.5-year period from the nine U.S. centers including Mayo Clinic that make up the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network and 17 other centers in the United States and Canada.

“This was a very complex study and criteria for study participants were very strict,” Dr. Redfield says. “But it’s most likely that we didn’t see the results we hoped for because this type of heart failure just does not respond to this drug.”

The RELAX study was funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant HL84907 (original) and grant HL110262 (this grant cycle). The institute also funds the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network.

Newswise — What is an outbreak?
An outbreak is a sudden rise in the number of cases of a disease. An outbreak may occur in a community or geographical area, or may affect several countries. It may last for a few days or weeks, or even for several years.

Some outbreaks are expected each year, such as influenza. Sometimes a single case of an infectious disease may be considered an outbreak. This may be true if the disease is rare (e.g., foodborne botulism) or has serious public health implications (e.g., bioterrorism agent such as anthrax).

What is an epidemic?
An epidemic occurs when an infectious disease spreads rapidly to many people. In 2003, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic took the lives of nearly 800 people worldwide.

What is a pandemic?
A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. It differs from an outbreak or epidemic because it:
•affects a wider geographical area, often worldwide.
•infects a greater number of people than an epidemic.
•is often caused by a new virus or a strain of virus that has not circulated among people for a long time. Humans usually have little to no immunity against it. The virus spreads quickly from person-to-person worldwide.
•causes much higher numbers of deaths than epidemics.
•often creates social disruption, economic loss, and general hardship.

The influenza (flu) pandemic of 1918-1919 killed between 20 and 40 million people. It is one of the most devastating pandemics in recorded world history. 2009 H1N1 influenza was a more recent global pandemic.

While an influenza pandemic is rare, they do reoccur periodically. Some pandemics are worse than others.

Public health experts say it’s not a matter of IF a flu pandemic will happen, but WHEN. It is essential to be prepared.

Pandemic preparation
Here are a few things you can do:
•Plan ahead in case services are disrupted. This is especially important if someone in your family has special needs. For example, make sure to have a way to fill needed prescriptions.
•Make a list of important contacts for home, school, and work.
•Talk with your neighbors, workplace, and school about how to plan for staying home if you or your household members are sick.
•Buy and store at least two weeks’ supplies of food, water, medicine, and facemasks.
•Stay as healthy as you can by getting adequate rest, managing stress, eating right, and continuing to exercise.

Making plans now will help you to be ready for the next flu pandemic.