Month: December 2014

A strain of influenza that often causes severe disease is the one seen most often so far in this flu season, health officials say. And this year’s flu vaccine may not protect against all of them. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the alert December 3. It said that the H3N2 flu strain is found in most virus samples tested this fall. And about half of those have mutated from the strain that is included in vaccines. Shots may offer less protection against these mutated strains, the CDC said. H3 viruses were widespread during the 3 deadliest flu seasons of the last decade. The CDC said people still should get flu shots because they are the best protection available. In some cases, the CDC recommended quick use of antiviral medicines.

Being in surgery for a longer time may increase the risk of forming a dangerous blood clot, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at information about 1.4 million people. All of them had surgery under general anesthesia in a 6-year period. Those surgeries were done at 315 hospitals. After surgery, just under 1% of the patients developed blood clots. About 0.7% developed a clot in the body’s deep veins. This is called a deep vein thrombosis. Most of these clots occur in the legs. About 0.3% of those in the study developed a pulmonary embolism. This is a clot that travels to the lungs. Clots were 27% more likely to occur after the longest surgeries than after average-length surgeries. The risk of clots was lowest after the shortest surgeries. The journal JAMA Surgery published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it December 3.

Preventable hospital deaths are occurring less often, a new report says. The government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did the report. It was based on medical records. The agency focused on preventable infections, drug errors and falls in hospitals. It found that 17% fewer of these problems occurred in 2013 compared with 2010. That trend led to 50,000 fewer deaths. About 1.3 million fewer people developed infections and other problems that were acquired in the hospital. Fewer errors also led to a $12 billion drop in avoidable hospital costs, the report said. But 10% of hospital patients were still affected by some sort of error. The Associated Press and Reuters Health news service wrote about the report December 2.

Contrary to some earlier research, a large new study concludes that statins do not reduce the risk of broken bones. People take statin drugs to reduce cholesterol and inflammation. But some studies suggested that people who took them also had fewer fractures related to osteoporosis (thin or brittle bones). In the new study, nearly 18,000 older adults were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group took the statin drug rosuvastatin (Crestor) daily. The other group received placebo (fake) pills. Researchers kept track of them for up to 5 years. During the study, fractures were about equal between the 2 groups. The study also found no connection between fractures and the amount of C-reactive protein in people’s blood. C-reactive protein is substance in blood that indicates inflammation. Increased inflammation is linked with artery disease.