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Vaccine shows promise in preventing, treating shingles
Waterbury Republican-American ^ | June 2, 2005 | AP Wire

Posted on 06/02/2005 8:59:40 AM PDT by Graybeard58

PHILADELPHIA -- A new experimental vaccine cuts in half the chances of older people getting shingles, a blistering skin rash that can lead to months or years of intense pain.

A study of more than 38,000 people aged 60 or older found that those who received the vaccine, made by Merck & Co., were 51 percent less likely to develop shingles.

The vaccine also reduced the severity of sickness in people who got shingles, and cut by two-thirds the chances of developing longlasting nerve pain.

The vaccine's reach could be huge, considering that shingles affects at least 1 million Americans a year, according to the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Shingles, caused by a reawakening of the chicken pox virus, is particularly a problem for the elderly. The number of cases is expected to grow as more people reach old age.

"I figure if we vaccinated everyone who was 60 or older who hasn't already had shingles, we could expect to reduce the number of cases of shingles in the United States by 250,000 each year and reduce the severity of disease in most of the 250,000 people who did get shingles," said Dr. Michael Oxman, an infectious disease specialist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System who directed the study.

Merck submitted an application on April 25 to the Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to market the shingles vaccine. The company said it typically takes about 10 months for the FDA to do its review.

The study, done by Department of Veterans Affairs researchers with help from the National Institutes of Health and Merck, will be included in the licensing review.

"We can have an impact on something that hurts people," said Dr. Stephen Straus, who was lead researcher for the vaccine study at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Anyone who knows someone who has had shingles knows this is something you don't want to get."

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chicken pox.

After a case of chicken pox, the virus lies dormant in nerve cells along the spinal cord, but it can reemerge years later as shingles.

It isn't fully understood why the virus reactivates, though waning immunity and advancing age are factors. About half of people over 85 get shingles, and people with weakened immune systems from AIDS, cancer and other conditions are at heightened risk.

Children who are vaccinated against chicken pox can still get shingles, but early research indicates that they may be less likely to get shingles or get a milder case.

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Shingles usually starts out as a burning or tingling sensation and then progresses into a painful rash of blisters, typically on just one side of the torso or face. Shingles on the face is especially worrisome because it can cause vision and hearing loss.

Anti-viral drugs, if taken early, can help. But about 20 percent of people develop the lingering nerve pain called postherpetic neuralgia. Elderly people are especially vulnerable.

The shingles vaccine is actually a high-test dose -- at least 14 times as potent -- of the same vaccine used to protect children from chicken pox. The vaccine is meant to boost the body's immune system against the varicella-zoster virus, keeping it inactive.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

To test the shingles vaccine, researchers gave the shot to 19,270 older people and a dummy vaccine to 19,276 others, many through VA medical centers around the country. They then tracked the volunteers for just over three years on average.

Besides reducing the disease in the vaccinated group, the vaccine cut the "burden of illness" from shingles by 61 percent and the risk of postherpetic neuralgia by 66 percent, the researchers reported. The vaccine was most effective in preventing shingles in people under 70, though it did the best job of reducing the severity of shingles in the oldest volunteers.

Side effects were mostly mild, including tenderness and swelling at the injection site.

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Since the study followed people for a few years, it's not known how long-lasting the protective effect will be, Oxman said. Merck and the VA continue to follow patients at 12 of the 22 study locations, said Jeffrey Silber, a Merck vaccine researcher who helped oversee the vaccine testing.

The company has not determined what it would charge for the vaccine. In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Donald Gilden, chairman of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said the shot's cost-effectiveness should be considered before it is recommended for widespread use. But he predicted that it would be "at least as cost-effective as other currently used vaccines."

Gilden, in an interview, said he knows firsthand the pain of shingles, both as a doctor and a patient.

"I remember it as some of the worst days of my life," he said.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: health; shingles; vaccine
If this vaccine proves effective, I would advise everybody to get it. I was 54 years old when I got it. (Elderly? That's a matter of perspective.) and I am in agreement with the doctor who said:

I remember it as some of the worst days of my life

It is a horrendously painful experience.

1 posted on 06/02/2005 8:59:40 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58

My aunt had shingles some years ago...still has effects from it. It wasn't pretty.


2 posted on 06/02/2005 9:03:04 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: Graybeard58

At 27 or 28 I started getting shingles at the base of my spine. It pops up periodically, usually at times of stress, sometimes as often as eight or 10 times a year. In the last year it hasn't been so frequent. The pain is awful, though.


3 posted on 06/02/2005 9:03:53 AM PDT by SittinYonder (Tancredo and I wanna know what you believe)
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To: Graybeard58
"If this vaccine proves effective, I would advise everybody to get it. I was 54 years old when I got it. (Elderly? That's a matter of perspective.) and I am in agreement with the doctor who said: I remember it as some of the worst days of my life It is a horrendously painful experience."

Yup. Too late for me, too. I had it on my face, the back of my neck (upper spine), and in my eyes. I do NOT recommend the experience, but I might recommend the vaccine.

4 posted on 06/02/2005 9:07:43 AM PDT by redhead (Are you 2? I'm 2, 3! --Victor Borge)
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To: redhead
in my eyes

Good God! I'm sorry!

5 posted on 06/02/2005 9:08:28 AM PDT by SittinYonder (Tancredo and I wanna know what you believe)
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To: redhead

David Letterman had it in his eyes too. He said it was much worse an experience than the heart surgery he had.


6 posted on 06/02/2005 9:27:38 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Spec.4 Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: SittinYonder; Graybeard58
"Good God! I'm sorry!

Yah, it was excruciating, and lasted the better part of three weeks. I still have scars on my cornea from it.

7 posted on 06/02/2005 9:51:13 AM PDT by redhead (Are you 2? I'm 2, 3! --Victor Borge)
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To: Graybeard58

My grandmother also got shingles in her 50's, and she stayed with us so my mother could take care of her. I got the herpes virus from her, but "luckily" I have only ever gotten cold sores on my mouth, and not shingles.


8 posted on 06/02/2005 10:00:58 AM PDT by Cecily
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To: Cecily

It's from chicken pox. If you have had chicken pox you can get shingles.

Also when I first got it the doc told me to stay away from pregnant women.


9 posted on 06/02/2005 10:02:59 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Spec.4 Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Graybeard58

I had a small outbreak of it once, and it is very painful.


10 posted on 06/02/2005 10:04:35 AM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Graybeard58

I was mid 40's when I had a bout on my hip...AVEENO anti-itch cream was a life saver...it stops a lot of the pain and itch. It's main purpose was chicken pox itching relief.


11 posted on 06/02/2005 10:17:03 AM PDT by GailA (Glory be to GOD and his only son Jesus.)
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To: GailA

When I had it there was no itch or pain at the site of the rash, just a rash. The pain radiated along a nerve from my stomach in a circular pattern to my shoulder then up my neck. It was intense and lasted several weeks.

I felt fortunate because the doc told me that for some people it lasts for months and even years.


12 posted on 06/02/2005 11:21:50 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Spec.4 Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Graybeard58

Took about 3 months to fully heal, it was a mild spot so I'm told.


13 posted on 06/02/2005 11:30:57 AM PDT by GailA (Glory be to GOD and his only son Jesus.)
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To: Graybeard58

Very painful. Vitamin B-12 did wonders clearing it up.


14 posted on 06/02/2005 12:47:55 PM PDT by aimhigh
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To: Graybeard58

I thought the shingles virus was related to the herpes virus which causes cold sores, or so I was told. I guess I was misinformed, but I did get a very bad cold sore during the time my grandmother was with us. That one was the worst, but the recurring ones (every few years) are not nearly as bad and clear up quickly.

May the Lord keep us all free of diseases and afflictions. They are not fun, to say the least.


15 posted on 06/02/2005 5:14:27 PM PDT by Cecily
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To: Cecily

Just curious but have you had chicken pox as a child? Most people have but a few escape it.

I got it when I was 16 years old which is unusually late. I can well remember the sores driving me nuts itching and I have scars on my behuind from scratching them.

(More info than you wanted to know I bet)


16 posted on 06/02/2005 5:22:52 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Spec.4 Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Graybeard58

I think I did when I was little. Now I am curious, so I will have to ask my mother.


17 posted on 06/02/2005 5:32:27 PM PDT by Cecily
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