Shingles could make on a regular basis duties — from getting dressed to entering mattress — a painful proposition. The perpetrator at the back of this agonizing rash, which is particularly not unusual in older other people, is identical virus liable for any other not unusual however debilitating situation: hen pox.

“Maximum people by no means eliminate the hen pox virus,” William Schaffner, MD, president of the Nationwide Basis for Infectious Illnesses, tells WebMD. “It lies dormant like a endure in a cave all over iciness. When an individual will get shingles, the virus has reawakened.”

Thankfully, a vaccine is to be had that a great deal reduces the chance of shingles. Schaffner, who could also be a professor in Vanderbilt College Faculty of Medication’s infectious sicknesses department and chair of the varsity’s division of preventive medication, spoke with WebMD about getting safe.

The shingles vaccine is beneficial for everybody age 50 or older who isn’t profoundly immunocompromised, because of this their immune machine is functioning and they’ve no longer not too long ago had therapies like chemotherapy or top doses of steroids.

“t is a two-shot vaccine. Protection is to be had thru Medicare, however it may be tricky to get approval. You need to paintings the machine a bit.

“No. It will possibly nonetheless be very efficient, despite the fact that it’s endorsed that you just look ahead to as much as a yr after the episode to get the vaccine.”

“Shingles isn’t life-threatening according to se, however it may be beautiful debilitating. If it comes to your face or eyes, it might probably threaten your eyesight. Even after the rash abates, you’ll be left with ache in that segment of the frame that may be prompt through even trivial stimuli, such because the contact of a blouse in opposition to the pores and skin. Every so often it might probably save you other people from leaving their area. The older we get, the higher the chance. If you happen to continue to exist to age 80, you could have a 25% to 50% likelihood of getting had shingles.”

“That is an awfully protected vaccine. A couple of proportion issues of other people get hen pox blisters across the website, however they’re innocuous they usually move away.”

“Handiest when you’ve got a compromised immune machine.”