A non-drug nasal spray could theoretically help stop the spread of respiratory viruses like the flu and COVID-19 better than wearing a mask, a new study suggests.

The spray uses ingredients that are medically inactive to trap germs in the nose before they can infect a person, researchers said.

It's that time of year when respiratory viruses start to circulate widely, but how can you tell the difference between the symptoms of a cold, the flu and COVID?

Dr. William Brian Glenn, from Hackensack Meridian Medical Group in New Jersey, shares what you need to know to be ready for whatever...

The days of waiting for a flu shot at your doctor's office or local pharmacy may be over: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved FluMist nasal spray as the first influenza vaccine that can be self-administered at home.

It's a "new option for receiving a safe and effective seasonal influenza vaccine potentially with greater convenience, flexibility and accessibility for i...

People should prepare for the fall cold and flu season by getting the updated influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations, an infectious diseases expert says.

“When my patients ask me if they should be getting a COVID vaccine this year, yes, essentially anybody over the ages of 6 months, I'm recommendi...

A lot of Americans are on the fence regarding annual flu and COVID shots, a new survey finds.

More than one-third of those polled (37%) said they’d gotten vaccines in the past but don’t plan to this year, according to results from a nationwide Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center s...

Losing weight can help a person with obesity -- especially those with diabetes -- fend off serious infections, new data shows.

It's an important finding, since "up to one in three hospitalizations in people with diabetes are for infections and people with diabetes are twice as likely to be hospitalized with infections than the general population. They are also at high risk of readmission,...

A universal flu vaccine that would protect against all influenza strains -- and that people might not need to take every year -- could be close at hand, researchers report.

An experimental vaccine candidate produced a strong immune response in lab mice, and it provided protection against severe inf...

Over-the-counter nasal sprays could be a potent weapon against a major public health threat -- antibiotic resistance, researchers report.

Their analysis, which looked at data from nearly 14,000 adults, found that common nasal sprays could help keep upper respiratory tract infections at bay, reducing the need for antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance caused by overuse and misuse of thes...

U.S. health officials announced Tuesday that the federal government will pay Moderna $176 million to speed development of a pandemic flu vaccine based on mRNA technology.

Such a vaccine could be used to treat bird flu in people, as concern grows about H5N1 cases spreading in dairy cows across the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted.

"We ha...

The spread of H5N1 avian flu to dairy cows has health experts and many Americans on edge, and now a new study finds the virus stays viable on milking equipment for at least an hour.

"Dairy cows have to be milked even if they are sick, and it has not been clear for how long the virus contained in residual milk from the milking process remains stable on the equipment,"said study lead author...

A simple and inexpensive paper strip test could help diagnose a case of the flu, and even identify the influenza strain that caused it, a new study finds.

The test can distinguish between influenza A and B -- the two main types of seasonal flu -- as well as identifying more virulent strains like H1...

Two human cases of "dual mutant" strains of H1N1 flu have been reported by U.S. health officials.

Unfortunately, the genetic changes appear to render the leading flu antiviral, Tamiflu, less effective, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted.

The new analysis, published Wednesday in the age...

An experimental vaccine that could offer one-stop prevention for both COVID-19 and influenza is showing positive results among older adults in trials, maker Moderna announced Monday.

The shot -- for now called mRNA-1083 -- "has met its primary endpoints, eliciting a higher immune response than the licensed comparator vaccines used in the trial," Moderna said in a