Health

(NEW YORK) — Amid a nationwide surge in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, comedian and actress Amy Schumer revealed that her 3-year-old son was hospitalized due to the virus.

Schumer shared in an Instagram post Sunday that her son Gene was taken to the emergency room and hospitalized the same week she was in rehearsals to host Saturday Night Live.

“I missed Thursday rehearsals when my son was rushed to ER and admitted for RSV,” Schumer wrote. “Shout out to all the parents going though this right now.”

She shared a photo of herself sitting in the hospital with Gene, wearing a respiratory mask.

Schumer, who gave birth to Gene, her only child, in May 2019, later wrote that her son is “home and better.”

The U.S. is seeing more than twice as many cases per week compared to the same period last year, according to ABC News contributor Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an official health advisory in response to the rise in respiratory infections in children.

In addition to RSV, the number of cases of influenza and rhinovirus/enterovirus (RV/EV) are higher than usual for this time of year, especially among children, according to the CDC.

Respiratory illnesses are appearing earlier and in more people than in recent years. The federal health agency says there have also been early increases in flu activity across most of the U.S., with indications that this season could be much more severe than the recent seasons.

What parents should know about RSV

RSV is a contagious virus that can spread from viral respiratory droplets transferred from an infected person’s cough or sneeze; from direct contact with the virus, like kissing the face of a child with RSV; and from touching surfaces, like tables, doorknobs and crib rails, that have the virus on them and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth before hand-washing, according to the CDC.

People infected with RSV are usually contagious for three to eight days, but some infants can continue to spread the virus even after they stop showing symptoms, for as long as four weeks, according to the CDC.

Among children, premature infants and young children with weakened immune systems or congenital heart or chronic lung disease are the most vulnerable to complications from RSV.

According to the CDC, death from RSV is rare. There are between 100 to 500 pediatric deaths and 14,000 adult deaths each year related to RSV, with the actual figure likely being higher due to undercounting.

“Pretty much all kids have gotten RSV at least once by the time they turn 2, but it’s really younger kids, especially those under 6 months of age, who can really have trouble with RSV and sometimes end up in the hospital,” Dr. William Linam, pediatric infectious disease doctor at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, told ABC News last year. “That’s where we want to get the word out, for families with young children or children with medical conditions, making sure they’re aware this is going on.”

In the first two to four days of contracting RSV, a child may show symptoms like fever, runny nose and congestion.

Later on, the symptoms may escalate to coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing.

Parents should also be alerted to symptoms including dehydration and not eating, according to Linam.

“Not making a wet diaper in over eight hours is often a good marker that a child is dehydrated and a good reason to seek medical care,” he said. “Sometimes kids under 6 months of age can have pauses when they’re breathing and that’s something to get medical attention for right away.”

Infants and toddlers can usually recover at home with RSV unless they start to have difficulty breathing, are not eating or drinking, or appear more tired than usual, in which case parents should contact their pediatrician and/or take their child to the emergency room.

At-home care for kids with RSV can include Tylenol and Motrin for fevers, as well as making sure the child is hydrated and eating.

Parents can help protect their kids from RSV by continuing to follow as much as possible the three Ws of the pandemic: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance, according to Linam.

Infants who are either born prematurely (less than 35 weeks) or born with chronic lung disease may benefit from a medication to prevent complications of RSV since they are at increased risk of severe disease. Parents should discuss this with their pediatrician.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — For the past three months, Lauryn Bosstick, a Texas-based mom of two, has added a new step to her nightly routine: taping her mouth shut.

Bosstick, an entrepreneur and founder of The Skinny Confidential — a lifestyle product line, book and podcast — said she considers the technique, called mouth taping, a positive addition to her wellness routine.

She said she wakes up with more energy and feels like she can breathe better throughout the day.

“The first time I did it, I woke up with more energy,” Bosstick told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “It’s actually not hard once you start doing it. I’m surprised, but I actually want to do it each night.”

Bosstick said she first heard about mouth taping at night from multiple wellness experts she interviewed for her podcast, who each praised it as a way to reap the health benefits of nose breathing.

One of those experts, Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., a neurobiology professor at Stanford University, has touted the benefits of nasal breathing on social media and on his own podcast, “The Huberman Lab.”

Huberman proposes that breathing through the nose instead of the mouth may not only help prevent the spread of infection but may also help improve teeth hygiene, facial alignment and, at night, provide deeper sleep.

Dr. Gregory Levitin, a board-certified otolaryngologist at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, echoes some of those beliefs, suggesting that nasal breathing has some well-researched medical benefits.

“Functionally, it’s healthier to breathe through your nose,” said Levitin. “There are many studies that have shown that not only does the nose warm the air and filters the air and moisturizes the air for us, it’s also associated with healthier sleep.”

There have been small studies linking mouth taping with modest improvements in snoring and sleep apnea, but no large-scale trial has been able to prove its benefits, for which reason it is not universally recommended.

The do’s and don’ts of mouth taping

Dr. Raj Dasgupta, fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, said people should always consult a doctor before trying mouth taping.

The main danger with the technique, he said, is if someone has undiagnosed sleep apnea and therefore would have difficulty breathing overnight.

“Before you put any tape over your mouth, talk to your doctor or health care provider to see if it’s going to be safe for you,” said Dasgupta, adding that women especially are often underdiagnosed because they don’t always present with the classic symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, like loud snoring.

Levitin said too that a person trying mouth taping is likely trying to feel better, in which case they should seek medical care to see if there is a reason they are not properly nasal breathing.

He cautioned that mouth taping should be looked at as a diagnostic tool, not as a permanent fix or something to be done long-term.

If a person feels better after trying mouth taping for a night or two, they should see a doctor, according to Levitin, who noted there are now non-surgical options to help people breathe better.

“It’s an indicator of perhaps maybe taking the next step and actually going to see somebody determine if there’s a problem that can be fixed,” he said.

Levitin stressed that people should not use commercial tape, duct tape or any other non-medical tape for the technique. If people do decide to try mouth taping, porous tape is recommended, as it is intended for use on human skin.

Both Levitin and Dasgupta said that people can also improve their nasal breathing through lifestyle modifications, instead of resorting to mouth taping.

Meditation and yoga as well as healthy diet and consistent exercise each contribute to better breathing, the experts said.

The trend

Levitin said it’s easy to see why a tool like mouth taping may become popular, because people are trying to feel better by breathing better.

Signs that a person may not be properly breathing through their nose at night include waking up tired after a full night’s sleep or waking up with a dry mouth, sore throat or bad breath, according to Levitin.

“Millions if not billions of people don’t breathe properly every day,” he said. “It results in inefficient sleep. It makes us more tired. It also may contribute to airway disease like asthma and allergies because we’re not clearing the pathogens, or germs and dust that filter through the air.”

Bosstick said in her experience, mouth taping does not hurt, and is not as awkward as she thought it would be when she first heard it described. She places an H-shaped piece of medical tape on her lips each night.

“I think people imagine this huge piece of masking tape over their mouth. That’s not how it is,” said Bosstick. “You can essentially breathe out of the sides of your mouth, but your mouth is just closed.”

She shared her own journey with nightly mouth taping in a TikTok video that has over 21,000 likes.

Bosstick said she sees more and more people giving mouth taping a try. After doing it consistently for three months, she said she plans to keep the technique as part of her nightly routine.

“I’m a multitasker and a habit stalker,” she said. “So if I can do something while I’m asleep that’s going to make me have more energy, make me feel better and affect my facial symmetry over time and help me remain more youthful, I’m all about it.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The “fall back” from daylight saving is linked to an uptick in car accidents and poor mood, but doctors say careful attention to sleep hygiene and a gradual adjustment of your bedtime may help.

As clocks across America “fall back” an hour at 2 a.m. on Nov. 6, internal clocks may lag behind.

“Changes, even small ones, in your sleep can impact almost every area of your body from your skin to your cardiovascular system,” said Dr. Marri Horvat of the Cleveland Sleep Disorders Clinic.

Daylight saving time is less aligned with our natural circadian rhythm. The sun rises later and light lasts longer in the evening, but our bodies are more attuned to light in the mornings and darkness in the evenings. Each switch changes sleep patterns abruptly.

The good news, doctors say, is that the upcoming change from daylight saving to standard time is less harmful for your health than the spring switch, largely because you gain an hour of sleep. The bad news is that either switch can have negative impacts on your health.

Researchers estimate that the switch to and from daylight saving time contributes to thousands of car accidents and 300 deaths each year. Meanwhile, researchers who have studied the fall switch specifically say it’s linked with an 11% increase in depressive episodes. Interestingly, doctors report that while the spring switch was linked with a 24% increase in heart attacks the day after, the fall switch has been linked with a 21% decrease in heart attacks. The benefit may lie in the extra hour of sleep gained with the fall switch.

What can you do to get better sleep?

Sleep specialists say it’s a good idea to establish a nighttime routine leading up to and following the switch. Horvat recommends “making the shift slowly over several days” by “going to bed and waking up 10 to 15 minutes later each day.” Ideally, this routine would include a “winding down” period of at least an hour before bedtime when you stop screen time, turn down the thermostat (between 60-75 degrees), and do a relaxing activity. The greatest relaxation technique before bedtime is listening to soothing music.

Another tip is to exercise outdoors. Moderate intensity aerobic exercise during the day, as long as it’s at least two to four hours before bedtime, increases sleep quality and duration. Also, exercising outdoors is recommended since natural sunlight during the day can help with the switch.

According to doctors, avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evenings can also help and it’s best to avoid snacks close to bedtime.

Although napping can’t replace a good night’s sleep, it can help supplement it. Even a five-minute nap shows improved attention and short-term memory.

“Healthy sleep begins with attitude and awareness,” said Dr. Emerson Wickwire, director of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “Set aside 7.5 or 8 hours for sleep and enjoy it!”

Alicia Zellmer, MD, and Joy Liu, MD, are resident physicians in Internal Medicine, and members of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Friday that a booster dose of their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine performs better against two circulating versions of the omicron variant, compared with a booster shot of their original vaccine.

According to a joint press release, updated data from a Phase 2-3 clinical trial shows the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine produced antibody responses against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants that were three- to four-fold higher, compared with the original formula, when measured in adults approximately one month after receiving a booster dose. The safety and tolerability profile of the bivalent booster remains favorable and similar to the original vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech said.

“As we head into the holiday season, we hope these updated data will encourage people to seek out a COVID-19 bivalent booster as soon as they are eligible in order to maintain high levels of protection against the widely circulating Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement Friday. “These updated data also provide confidence in the adaptability of our mRNA platform and our ability to rapidly update the vaccine to match the most prevalent strains each season.”

Other smaller studies by independent scientists have suggested there is very little difference between antibody responses produced by the original and updated shots, though both boosted antibody protection.

All of these studies are conducted by taking blood samples from recently vaccinated people and measuring antibodies in a lab. They give us a hint of how well the vaccines might work, but do not tell the full story of their effectiveness. Vaccines are still expected to offer a high level of protection against severe illness.

In late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized two updated booster vaccines — the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and another by American biotechnology company Moderna — that were designed to be a better match against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Since then, just over 26 million eligible Americans have received the updated booster shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The BA.5 subvariant currently is estimated to account for half of all new COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the CDC, but it’s unlikely to remain the dominant viral strain for much longer. Newer versions of the omicron variant, such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are slowly overtaking as a proportion of estimated cases. These subvariants are descendants of BA.5, but it remains unclear how well the bivalent boosters will work against them.

As the world nears its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the virus continues to evolve, booster shots are expected to bolster protection against severe illness but not necessarily mild or asymptomatic breakthrough infections.

“These data demonstrate that our BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine works as conceptually planned in providing stronger protection against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages,” BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin said in a statement Friday. “In the next step and as part of our science based approach we will continue to evaluate the cross-neutralization of the adapted vaccine against new variants and sublineages. Our aim is to provide broader immunity against COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron and other circulating strains.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — In what could signal the promise of progress to come for newborn infants at risk for RSV, a new monoclonal antibody is being granted approval in Europe as a preventative measure to protect against RSV infection in very young babies — those most at risk of contracting the virus — during their first RSV season.

Developed jointly by Sanofi and AstraZeneca, commercially called “Beyfortus®,” this monoclonal antibody is given via a single dose intramuscular injection to infants aged 0 to 12 months, to protect against RSV before they get infected, from birth up through their first RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) season. The European Commission announced Friday morning it had approved the drug.

This does not mean it is an option for American babies, at least not yet. Sanofi and AstraZeneca will still have to go through the U.S. regulatory process for that — Food and Drug Administration approval, and recommendation by advisory panels like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

While the European approval does not impact the US regulatory process — FDA makes its own decisions — this new European approval shows it’s good enough to get the green light there, and could get the green light here as well.

If and when the FDA does approve this antibody, it won’t be in time for this season’s surge. But it could get approved in time for next year.

Sanofi tells ABC News they and AstraZeneca have already submitted their clinical trial data to the FDA. They expect to finalize their submission to the FDA by the end of this year, with the hopes of it being approved and available by the fall/winter of 2023/2024.

“It’s really exciting news. We’ve been looking for solutions to be able to prevent RSV for close to 50 years,” Dr. Michael Greenberg, a pediatrician and vice president, Sanofi’s Medical Head of Vaccines for North America, told ABC News in an interview.

He noted that once available, it could offer an important “first tool that we have to be able to protect all babies going into their first RSV season.”

This monoclonal antibody, called Beyfortus, is a lab-made, synthetic version of RSV immunity that newborn babies don’t have time to develop on their own, with their short time on earth.

That could change once a maternal RSV vaccine is approved and available — but for now — it could offer an important stopgap of protection for a vulnerable population, especially looking ahead from amid the current influx of pediatric RSV infections currently surging in the U.S.

A sampling of national CDC data shows RSV cases recorded for all ages are occurring more than twice as high at this point this year compared to last year, with more than twice as many cases per week, and likely leading towards more severe cases, especially in pediatric emergency departments and pediatric hospitalizations, which have limited resources to begin with, according to Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News Contributor, Dr. John Brownstein.

Newborn infants are at the highest risk of RSV infection, especially those who are born prematurely or immune compromised. Their heads are big, their airways small, and they have no built-up immunity. It is a leading cause of hospitalization in infants in the U.S.

This monoclonal could be a notable measure of protection for babies, wherever it’s approved, available and accessible to those who need it.

“Speaking as a pediatrician as someone who’s worked in public health, we always try to prevent, rather than having to treat — which is why we use vaccines for example — it’s better to prevent illnesses than to treat it,” Greenberg said.

“The idea is that a baby would get it for example, if they’re born during the time when RSV is circulating, like now, they would get it before they leave the hospital after being born, or if they’re born before the RSV season, they would get it in their pediatricians office during a normal well child visit,” Greenberg continued. “It’s designed to be able to protect from a very rapid standpoint, for that first RSV season.”

It is designed to keep RSV from being as serious as it can be in the population most vulnerable to severe infection — newborns.

So, while Beyfortus may not prevent all infections, like milder ones, it does buy important time for the most vulnerable tiny babies to grow larger and stronger and less likely to get hit as hard by RSV.

During the pandemic, many kids weren’t as exposed to many of the viruses they would have been otherwise, during the course of a normal childhood — because of masking, social distancing, remote learning, etc. during their very early years.

One theory to explain the unusually high number of RSV infections says that babies who would have been affected earlier on in life in a normal setting were instead born into the COVID bubble — which may have caused a delay in their built-up immunity, experts say.

Now, as the masks have come down, the infection rates are going up at even higher rates, and experts emphasize how COVID-19 has thrown the typical seasonality of our respiratory viral waves.

There is also no vaccine for RSV yet, while there is, of course, for COVID and the flu.

“The holy grail for durable RSV protection remains the illusive vaccine which now seems to be on the horizon,” Brownstein said. “Nonetheless the availability of these therapies will play an important role as a stop gap, likely an important tool to protect high risk babies from complications of RSV infection.”

There have been recent and promising developments with the data on Pfizer’s maternal RSV vaccine candidate — and while they can now move forward with the approval process, that vaccine won’t be immediately available to families worried about the current surge. FDA approval and CDC recommendation are possible next year.

And in the newborns most at risk for severe RSV, they have not lived long enough for a vaccine given directly to them to have enough time to build sufficient immunity.

Enter, alternatives like this monoclonal antibody: a synthetic version of that immunity which can help ward off infection.

In a randomized placebo-controlled phase 2/3 trial, Beyfortus showed an efficacy of more than 77% (77.3%) against infants’ RSV lower respiratory tract infection hospitalizations.

“I think we just have to be able to be prepared, and have tools like this to be able to respond,” Greenberg said. “So that whatever the epidemiology is, we’ve got the means to be able to protect all infants going into the RSV season, whenever the RSV season happens.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration has released a safety bulletin urging parents and caregivers not to use head-shaping pillows intended to change an infant’s head shape or symmetry.

There has been no proven benefit of using these pillows for any medical purpose, and in fact, using these pillows can create an unsafe sleeping environment for infants and may increase the risk of suffocation and death, the agency warned.

“Infant head shaping pillows are not FDA-approved. The safety and effectiveness of these products have not been established for the prevention or treatment of flat head syndrome (also known as positional plagiocephaly or deformational plagiocephaly), or the more serious condition where the developing infant’s skull bones join together too early (known as craniosynostosis),” the FDA said. “Do not use infant head shaping pillows due to the risk of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), inclusive of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and suffocation and death.”

The agency advised anyone who owns one of these pillows to throw it away, and not donate it or give it to anyone else.

“Be aware that, in most cases, flat head syndrome will go away on its own as an infant grows, it is not painful and it does not cause any developmental concerns,” the FDA said.

“If your infant has an unusual head shape, talk to your infant’s health care provider about management options,” the agency added. “Know that the use of infant head shaping pillows may delay the necessary evaluation and management of harmless conditions, such as flat head syndrome, or more serious conditions, such as craniosynostosis.”

To promote a safe sleep environment, the National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend infants sleep on their backs in a bare crib on a firm and flat (not inclined) surface without pillows, toys, soft objects or loose bedding.

The AAP also recommends that caregivers not share a bed with infants to reduce the risk of SIDS. Instead, parents and caregivers can share the same room with a baby 6 months and under and should check on them to make sure they don’t overheat while sleeping.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain to include people who are suffering from short-term pain.

During a briefing Thursday, the federal health agency said its new clinical practice recommendations are replacing guidelines from 2016 to make them more flexible.

“Pain affects the lives of millions of Americans and improving care for those living with pain is a public health imperative,” Dr. Christopher Jones, acting director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, told reporters during the briefing.

The 2016 guidelines focused almost exclusively on prescribing for patients who have chronic pain, described as pain that lasts longer than three months.

But the new guidelines include those suffering from acute pain, which last less than a month and can include pain following a minor surgery or a broken bone, and subacute pain, which lasts longer than a month but is not yet considered chronic.

“It’s particularly important that the guidelines address this type of pain, as research shows that long-term opioid therapy often is initiated during this acute timeframe,” Jones said.

Jones added that by updating the recommendations, Americans who suffer from pain may have improved quality of life and, hopefully, misuse of prescription opioids will decline.

The U.S. has been battling an opioid crisis for years as more Americans fatally overdose from the drugs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, drug overdose deaths hit record-highs. More than 100,000 people died from drugs from April 2020 to April 2021, according to the CDC.

That’s a 29% increase from 2019 and equivalent to an American dying every five minutes, said the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The CDC says the first wave of the opioid overdose death crisis began in the 1990s, when people were dying after overuse of prescription opioids, such as oxycodone and methadone.

The second wave started in 2010 due to a sharp spike in overdose deaths due to heroin. The third wave began in 2013 with rates rising due to synthetic opioids, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl — which is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

“Actions related to the current state of the overdose crisis, which are very much driven by illicit synthetic opioids, like illicitly made fentanyl [and] resurgent methamphetamine, are not the aim of this guideline today,” Jones said. “That work is happening across the government as a whole-of-government approach, including work from CDC to support our state and local partners.”

He continued, “I don’t think it’s an either/or. I think we can pursue both of those at the same time.”

In addition, the guidelines have been updated to explicitly advise against the abrupt discontinuation or reduction of opioid use.

“There are very real harms, and we try to highlight that in the guidelines,” Jones said. “So things like mental health crises, suicidal ideation or behavior, psychological distress, and potentially even for some people seeking out opioids through other markets like illicit markets in order to stave off withdrawal or to supplement if they’re at too low of a dose.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The sudden death of 49-year-old author Julie Powell, whose life inspired the movie Julie & Julia, is raising new questions about her health, including a recent battle with COVID-19.

Her husband, Eric Powell, reported to The New York Times on Tuesday that the author died of a cardiac arrest on Oct. 26 at their home in Olivebridge, New York.

As many fans took to social media to express condolences, questions arose around some of Powell’s final tweets, including her recent COVID-19 recovery and a “black hairy tongue.”

On Oct. 25, a day before Powell reportedly died, the food writer tweeted that she woke up with black hairy tongue, adding further, “people, including my doctor, seem to think it’s no big deal, and will go away soon, but it certainly is gross.”

While alarming by sight, black hairy tongue is a benign and temporary condition that can be caused by a variety of factors including excessive alcohol, coffee or black tea intake, dehydration, smoking, poor oral hygiene or even certain medications, according to Dr. Darien Sutton, a board-certified emergency medicine physician and ABC News medical contributor.

Earlier this fall, in September, Powell — who gained notoriety as the food writer behind the Julie/Julia blog that chronicled her journey cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking — tweeted about suffering from COVID-19, writing that her symptoms included fatigue and a cough.

According to Sutton, there is “no reason to believe” that Powell’s diagnosis of black hairy tongue is associated with her battle with COVID-19.

Sutton said we also have “no evidence” that her death was associated with her COVID diagnosis.

“I think the reason why people speculated about this is that we know that there’s an association between COVID-19 and an increased risk of certain conditions that can cause cardiac arrest,” said Sutton, noting that data shows patients with COVID-19 are more likely to face increased risks of heart attacks, abnormal heart rhythms and blood clots.

In Powell’s case, the only known fact about her death is her husband’s report that it was due to cardiac arrest, which is a broad term, according to Sutton.

“It simply means that the heart has stopped functioning,” he said of cardiac arrest. “We do not know her medical history other than what she relayed in her tweets.”

Cardiac arrest is the cause of as many as 450,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the National Institute of Health.

Heart disease is also the number one cause of death for women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease can be caused by a range of things like diabetes, smoking, an unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity and more. Sutton added it is also possible to suffer cardiac arrest due to factors not related to having heart disease, such as problems with the lungs, electrolytes or blood disorders.

“Unfortunately for cardiac arrest, there are no real symptoms,” said Sutton. “It’s often a sudden loss of consciousness.”

If you see a person lose consciousness, Sutton recommends immediately dialing 911 and starting CPR.

The American Heart Association offers resources for people who want to get education and training to provide first aid and CPR that could save a life.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Pfizer and BioNTech have launched a clinical trial on a vaccine targeting both COVID-19 and influenza, the companies announced Thursday.

The phase 1 trial is being done in the United States with 180 participants between the ages of 18 and 64, with the first participant dosed this week, the companies said. The follow-up period for each participant will be six months.

“By combining both indications in one vaccine approach, we aim to provide individuals with an efficient way to receive immunization against two severe respiratory diseases with evolving viruses that require vaccine adaptation,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in a statement.

The combination vaccine is based on the currently available bivalent COVID-19 booster and a quadrivalent mRNA flu vaccine, which is designed to protect against four different flu viruses.

The phase 1 trial will test for safety, immune response and optimal dose level of the combination vaccine, before moving on to larger trials. The data will also provide insight into the potential of mRNA vaccines to address more than one pathogen, Sahin said.

Annaliesa Anderson, senior vice president and chief scientific officer of vaccine research and development for Pfizer, called this an “exciting step in our ongoing journey with BioNTech as we collectively look to transform the prevention of infectious diseases around the world.”

“Even with existing seasonal influenza vaccines, the burden of this virus is severe across the world causing thousands of deaths and hospitalizations every year,” she said in a statement.

Studies indicate​ COVID-19 vaccine efficacy fades over time, though it’s not clear if every American will need an annual COVID-19 booster. As scientists continue to assess the need, several companies are at work on creating a single injection each fall that protects against both seasonal flu and COVID-19.

In addition to Pfizer, pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Novavax have announced plans to work on a combo shot.

Moderna said it anticipates starting clinical trials on a single-dose vaccine that combines a booster against COVID-19 and a booster against flu by the end of the year, with hopes of the vaccine being available for the 2023 season.

“We believe this is a very large opportunity that is ahead of us, if we could bring to market a high efficacy pan-respiratory annual booster,” Moderna COE Stéphane Bancel said during the Sept. 9 investor meeting.

Last year, Novavax enrolled people in a Phase 1/2 study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immune response of a combination vaccine using the company’s seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. A phase 2 confirmation trial is expected to begin later this year, the company said in October.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The number of people with the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, has surged, with cases hitting a two-year high, according to data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RSV is twice as high among people of all ages at this point this year compared to last year, with the U.S. seeing more than twice as many cases per week, according to ABC News contributor Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.

One reason for the surge amongst kids is because they are socializing in ways reminiscent of how they mingled pre-pandemic, Brownstein told ABC News.

“Those respiratory viruses have been on a hiatus because kids have been somewhat isolated and have returned to normal school,” he said.

While RSV affects children and adults, it’s particularly dangerous for kids under 1-year-old and seniors 65 years old and older.

According to the CDC, there are between 100 to 500 pediatric deaths and 14,000 adult deaths each year related to RSV, with the actual figure likely being higher due to undercounting.

There isn’t much testing for RSV because of the prevalence of the illness.

Pediatric hospitalizations from RSV are up 1% this week compared to last week. Nationally, pediatric bed occupancy is the highest it’s been in 2 years — with 76% of the estimated 40,000 beds filled with patients, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Washington, D.C. and 17 states, including Tennessee, Connecticut, Delaware, Arizona and Rhode Island, are seeing between 80% and 90% of pediatric hospitalizations bed capacity, according to HHS data. Maine sits at 102%, which means it has more patients than beds available.

Brownstein said that RSV isn’t the sole cause of the hospitalizations among kids, as other respiratory diseases, including the common cold, are spreading.

The rise in RSV cases on top of the spread of COVID-19 and the flu during the fall and winter have doctors worried that Americans are facing a potential “tripledemic” this year.

According to the CDC, respiratory illnesses have appeared earlier and in more people than in recent years. The federal health agency says there have also been early increases in flu activity across most of the U.S., with indications that this season could be much more severe than the recent seasons.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.