The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people over 60 be vaccinated against shingles (herpes zoster), which causes severe, sometimes long-lasting pain.
The CDC recommends one dose of the shingles vaccine, Zostavax, for adults aged 60 and over, even if they have had shingles before. In people over 60 the vaccine cuts the risk of shingles by about 50%, and by 64% in those aged 60 to 69. The most common side effects are redness, pain, tenderness, swelling and itching at the injection site, and headache.
More than 95% of people are infected with the varicella zoster virus during their lives. In childhood it causes chickenpox, then lies dormant in the nerves. If it reactivates later, it causes shingles: a band of blisters around one side of the body with severe pain that can last weeks, months or years. One person in three gets shingles during their life, about a million cases a year in the US.
Chickenpox is usually mild but can sometimes be serious, especially in babies and adults. Children who haven't had chickenpox should get two doses of the chickenpox vaccine, the first at 12 months. Shingles becomes more likely after 50 and the risk rises with age: half of people who live to 85 will have had shingles, and the chance of lasting pain also rises with age.
Facts about shingles
- Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles: that means 95% of adults.
- About one person in three in the US will get shingles.
- More than half of adults don't realise how serious shingles and its complications can be.
- More than a third of people with shingles develop serious complications, and the risk rises after 60.
- Prompt treatment lessens the symptoms and the chance of complications: antiviral drugs started within 72 hours of the rash ease the pain and limit the spread.
Update: a newer, more effective shingles vaccine (Shingrix, two doses) has since replaced Zostavax in many countries, and is recommended from 50.
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