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THURSDAY, Feb. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Older people have vaccines available to prevent severe influenza and COVID-19, but there’s been nothing to protect against the third respiratory virus that contributed to this season’s wretched “triple-demic.”Until now.Two major pharmaceutical companies published clinical trial results this week that pave the way for an RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine to be available for adults by the time next cold and flu season rolls around.“RSV continues to be the last of the major winter respiratory viruses for which we don't have a vaccine, but as these two articles in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate, we're getting close,” said Dr. William Schaffner. He is medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious...

THURSDAY, Feb. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- American adults who have no health insurance or those who are underinsured will still be able to get free COVID vaccines from Moderna, even after government-purchased supplies run out, the company announced Monday."Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors' offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna's patient assistance program will provide COVID-19 vaccines at no cost," the company said in a statement. "Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay."While uninsured and underinsured children already will receive free COVID vaccines as part of the U.S....

THURSDAY, Feb. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Talk about the stuff of nightmares. You have extremely itchy skin at bedtime, not to mention a pimple-like rash. What is it?Those are fairly clear signs of scabies, a microscopic parasitic infestation where mites burrow under your skin and lay eggs there.Scabies infection comes from prolonged contact, not just a quick brush against someone else’s skin. It can also be passed through bedding or clothing.“Anyone who is diagnosed with scabies, as well as his or her sexual partners and other contacts who have had prolonged skin-to-skin contact with the infested person, should be treated,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises.What is scabies?This “human itch mite” lives and lays eggs in the upper layer of the skin,...

THURSDAY, Feb. 16, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- A quarter-century ago, the foundations were laid for the Jackson Heart Study, one of the most significant research efforts in the history of heart health.As the largest single-site study of Black people's heart health ever undertaken, it would eventually spawn more than 800 scientific papers and provide critical insights on genetics, prevention and more, based on examinations of thousands of Black men and women living in and around Jackson, Mississippi.But before the study could make scientific history, it had to confront issues that went far beyond the lab, say people who shaped the study."We did focus on much more than looking through a microscope at something," said Frances Henderson, who started working with the study in...