It was ghastly, the worst possible pain anyone could have.
Shingles and its painful complication, called postherpetic neuralgia, result from reactivation of the chicken pox virus, which remains in the body after a childhood bout and is usually dormant in the adult. Up to a third of all adults who have had chicken pox will eventually develop one or both of these conditions, becoming debilitated for anywhere from a week to several years. ... Once the rash and its painful sequel appear, treatment options are limited at best and carry their own set of complications.
... in 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new vaccine against shingles. Clinical trials on the vaccine revealed that it could, with relatively few side effects, reduce the risk of developing shingles by more than half and the risk of post-herpetic neuralgia by over two-thirds. In 2008, a national panel of experts on immunizations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went on to recommend the vaccine to all adults age 60 and older.
For more, see Why Patients Aren't Getting the Shingles Vaccine by Pauline W. Chen, M.D., June 10, 2010, at nytimes.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment