Consider shingles vaccine to prevent a recurrence
DEAR DOCTOR: I had shingles about 10 years ago, just after I turned 50, and it was as painful as everyone says. Now I hear that it’s possible I can get it again. Should I get the vaccine?
DEAR READER:
Unfortunately, it’s true that having had shingles once does not bestow immunity. While a second bout is rare, the odds do increase over time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 percent of people who have had shingles will go on to have another bout within seven years.
Shingles is a nasty rash that can occur in people who have previously had chicken pox. It happens when the varicella zoster virus, which causes chicken pox, emerges from its dormant state and travels along nerve fibers to the skin. In addition to a blistering rash, shingles can be accompanied by nerve and muscle pain and extreme skin sensitivity. Although you can get shingles at any age, half of all cases occur in people 60 and older.
Someone with active shingles can’t spread the rash, but because the liquid in the blisters
contains the virus, they can spread chicken pox. That makes it vital to not have physical contact with anyone who has not had or has not been vaccinated for chicken pox while you have shingles. As though the pain, itching and burning of the rash weren’t bad enough, people with shingles also run the risk of being left with ongoing nerve pain, a condition known as post-herpetic neuralgia.
While this all sounds quite grim, there is some encouraging news. A new shingles vaccine called Shingrix has been released. The two-dose vaccine got a preliminary nod from the CDC in October. An advisory committee recommended that Shingrix should be administered in place of an older existing vaccine, called Zostavax. Given in a single dose, Zostavax isn’t as effective as the newer vaccine.
The CDC’s advisory committee is recommending that individuals 50 and older be vaccinated with Shingrix. The committee is also urging that anyone who has already been vaccinated with the older, single-dose vaccine now also receive the new one.