How to manage your risk of getting shingles

Before we began vaccinating children against chickenpox (varicella) kids routinely got this childhood disease and were rather miserable for the week to ten days we lived with it. And then we thought we were all done with chickenpox.

Not so. Anyone who has had chickenpox has a one-in-three chance of getting shingles, also known as

herpes zoster. By the way, even though it has the word ‘herpes’ in the name, it is not the same virus as genital herpes at all.

Children and young adults can get shingles, but it is most prevalent in people age 60 and older. Odds are that people who are 80 and older have a 50 percent chance of getting shingles.

If you thought having the chickenpox was no fun, shingles is most certainly something to avoid. This painful skin rash can take weeks to run its course. Shingles usually appears on one side of the face or body and lasts two to four weeks. Its main symptom is pain, which can be severe. Other symptoms can include fever, headache, chills, and upset stomach. With rare infections, the shingles can lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation (encephalitis), and death.

The good news is that there is a shingles vaccine available to people 50 and older to lower the risk of getting shingles or help to lessen the pain for those who do end up developing this disease.  The vaccine is called Zostravax and it can reduce the risk of getting shingles by 50 percent.

Some individuals should not receive the vaccine if they have a weakened immune system, pregnant, or have experienced a life-threatening reaction to gelatin or the antibiotic neomycin. Contact your primary care provider to see if getting the shingles vaccine is a good option for you.

Grinnell Regional Public Health is now offering the shingles vaccination. Call 641-236-2385 to schedule an appointment.

For more information on shingles:

http://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/overview.html

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/shingles/aboutshingles/01.html