Even Healthy Adults Can Get Shingles

Should you, or your loved one, get the vaccination that can help prevent shingles? Originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006, many physicians question whether or not their older patients should receive this vaccination.

In a recent press release, researchers from Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester announced that shingles could cause more problems than most people, or their physicians, realize. Researchers wanted to obtain current data regarding shingles since the introduction of the vaccine.

Researchers discovered that even healthy adults can have more adverse effects from shingles than previously thought. This study discounted the belief that healthy people who do not have a weakened immune system can get shingles. It is now likely that more physicians will recommend that their patients get the shingles vaccination.

Unlike other diseases, shingles itself is not life threatening. However, this should not be mistaken for thinking that it's no big deal - shingles can be extremely painful. It can cause complications that may last for weeks, months, or even years.

Shingles is usually recognized by the rash or blisters that it causes. These form on the skin, and the blisters can pop, causing a liquid to ooze out of them. Caused by a virus, shingles can last for weeks or months before the blisters and rash heal.

Researchers discovered that while nearly no one, 92 percent, who had participated in their study had any other life threatening illness that impacted their immune system, nearly 20 percent of the participants had skin pain that continued for more than 90 days. Indeed, this pain often continues for months, or years, after the shingles virus itself is gone.