Shingles Vaccine Recommended for People Over the Age of 60

On May 15, the online edition of the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report published a recommendation that all adults over the age of 60 get the shingles vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the vaccine as well. The recommendation states that getting the vaccination is very important for people over the age of 60 because over half the cases of shingles outbreaks in the United States occur in those within this age range.

What is Shingles?

Shingles is a viral disease that is known for painful skin blisters and rash in a limited area on one side of the body. The virus commonly known as Shingles, is called the Herpes Zoster virus. The virus can spread from one or more ganglia along nerves of an infected segment and infect the corresponding dermatome causing a painful rash. In most cases, the rash usually heals within two to four weeks. The progression of shingles, i.e. herpes zoster, begins with a small collection of bumps that turn into blisters. Next, the blisters fill with lymph and break open. Then they crust over and finally disappear. Although the progression seems fairly straight forward, there are times when the break out can last months even years causing residual nerve pain.

Risk of Getting Shingles

The risk of getting shingles -- caused by the same varicella-zoster virus responsible for the common childhood illness chicken pox -- rises with age starting at around age 50, and is highest among the elderly.

The agency said the recommendation replaces a provisional one it made in 2006 after the vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by a CDC advisory panel of immunization experts.

New research published in the International Journal of Toxicology (IJT) by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., reveals high rates of shingles (herpes zoster) in Americans since the government?s 1995 recommendation that all children receive chicken pox vaccine. Goldman?s research supports that shingles, which results in three times as many deaths and five times the number of hospitalizations as chicken pox, is suppressed naturally by occasional contact with chicken pox.

Cure for Shingles

There is no cure for shingles, also known as herpes zoster. After a person has had chicken pox, the virus remains dormant in the body, and years later can reactivate as shingles.

"It is a nasty, life-altering affliction. Although the vaccine is not perfect, it's pretty good," Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said in a telephone interview. The shingles vaccine has been found to reduce chances of getting shingles, and researchers have found that this is welcome news for an aging U.S. baby-boomer population.