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What is shingles?
Shingles is a disease caused by the reactivation of chickenpox virus. Shingles most often
occurs in elderly people and people with weakened immune systems. Common
symptoms of shingles include a rash, usually along a nerve path, and severe
pain. Sometimes the pain can last for months.
How common is shingles?
Every year in the United States shingles affects between 500,000 and 1 million people. Individuals have a 20-30
percent chance of getting shingles during their lifetime. About half of
the people who live to 85 years old will get shingles.
Is shingles dangerous?
Although people do not die from shingles, they can be severely hurt by it. Perhaps the
most common and debilitating complication is persistent, long-lived pain. The
pain can be so severe that it leads to sleeplessness, feelings of helplessness
and depression, weight loss, anorexia, interference with basic daily activities
such as dressing, bathing and eating and an inability to participate in normal
social activities. The pain can last for months or even years.
About 15 percent of the cases occur in the nerves around the area of the eyes. This can result in
reduced vision and blindness.
Scarring and concurrent bacterial infections can also occur at the site of the rash.
How do you catch shingles?
People don't catch shingles from other people. Only people who have had chickenpox can get
shingles. They get shingles when chickenpox virus, which can live silently in
the nervous system for decades, reawakens. This reawakening of an old
chickenpox infection is caused by a weakening of the immune system from
advancing age, viruses (such as the AIDS virus), or immune suppressive drugs
used to treat cancers.
Can my grandfather with shingles give my baby daughter chickenpox?
Yes, although people with shingles cannot give someone else shingles, they can
pass chickenpox virus to others through direct contact with the rash. So if
your baby has not yet had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine, she could
become infected with the virus and develop chickenpox.
Unlike chickenpox that can be passed to others through coughs or sneezes, people with shingles
can only pass the virus to others through direct contact with the rash. If the
rash has yet to develop or has crusted, the patient cannot transmit the virus.
Similarly, people who still have pain without the rash are no longer able to transmit the virus.
How can you avoid shingles?
Once you have had chickenpox, you can get shingles. People who are 60 years old or older
can decrease their chance of getting shingles by getting the shingles vaccine.
Who should get the shingles vaccine?
People who are 60 years of age and older should receive a single dose of the shingles vaccine.
How is the shingles vaccine made?
The shingles vaccine is a more concentrated version of the chickenpox
vaccine currently given to children. Both are live, weakened forms of
chickenpox virus. The shingles vaccine contains about fourteen times the amount
of weakened chickenpox virus than the vaccine for children. This amount of
virus is needed to obtain a protective response in the aging immune systems of
older adults. Due to the differences in the quantities of virus in each
vaccine, they cannot be used interchangeably.
Does the shingles vaccine work?
Yes, the vaccine protected more than half of the people from getting shingles and about
67 percent from getting shingles pain.
Is the shingles vaccine safe?
Yes, common side effects included redness, pain, swelling, and itching at the injection
site. A small group of recipients also got a rash at the injection site.
Reviewed by: Paul A. Offit, MD
Date: March 200