For a few months, in different public spaces in Rosario, posters referring to the Herpes zostera disease caused by the reactivation of the Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV). In the messages, people are urged over the age of fifty who have had chickenpox, to apply the vaccine available in Argentina in order to avoid the reactivation of the virus and its consequences. However, from Public Health they explained that it is not necessary to apply the drug in all cases.
shingles
After a person contracts chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in their nervous system, usually without causing symptoms until reactivated, something that can happen throughout life, especially during adulthood.
Los first symptoms of herpes zoster, commonly known as shingles, when the virus is reactivated, are: itching, pain, tingling, discomfort or tenderness on the chest, abdomen or face.
After the first days, the acute phase of the disease begins, in which the skin rash appears, with blisters in the affected areas, accompanied by sharp pain.
After about 10 days, the vesicles turn into scabs that usually last between 2 and 4 weeks.
The skin rash, with blisters in the affected areas, accompanied by sharp pain, is one of the symptoms of shingles.
But while most people make a full recovery, some may experience major complications. The most common is the neuralgia postherpética, a neuralgic pain that persists after the rash has healed. That pain can last from three to six months; but in some cases, it can persist longer.
According to statistics, this complication –postherpetic neuralgia– tends to be more common and severe in older people than in younger people. After the age of 50, up to 30 percent of patients with shingles will develop it.
Other complications They may also include: skin changes, shingles rash infection, facial nerve infection, peripheral and central nervous system complications, and cardiovascular complications, among other derivations that negatively impact the patient’s quality of life.
The vaccine
In keeping with the appearance of the billboard suggesting that everyone over 50 be vaccinated against herpes zoster, in a low voice, doctors from different specialties hint that in this particular case, “the information circulating in favor of of the herpes zoster vaccine, is promoted by the pharmacological industry and not by the health authorities.”
In dialogue with the program around (Radio 2), Matías Lahitte, clinical infectologist, member of the Public Health team of the Municipality of Rosariowas concrete:
“The vaccine that is being promoted now is a new recombinant vaccine (it does not have live attenuated viruses) that is indicated in people over 18 years of age (especially over 50) in certain and determined cases. It is a vaccine that is not part of the national vaccination schedule”.
The doctor indicated that the vaccine is designed for people who, due to their condition, have greater possibility of developing complex pictures or what do they have these pictures on a recurring basis. “In these specific cases, the vaccine demonstrated efficacy in reducing the possibility of having new or recurrent episodes, as well as postherpetic neuralgia.”
However, he remarked that “since it is a vaccine not included in the calendar, It has to be prescribed by a professional and with a certain indication. Because it is a recombinant vaccine (without attenuated viruses), it is especially indicated for immunosuppressed people: oncohematological patients, with HIV, who must undergo a bone marrow transplant or some type of chemotherapy, who have very low defenses. Since, because of this immunodeficiency, they are more prone to contracting diseases ”.
In other words, beyond the laboratory’s bid to install the vaccine – whose cost ranges between 30 thousand and 40 thousand pesos each of the two doses and it can be bought in pharmacies– it must be said that “from the epidemiological point of view, it is not considered that it should be in the vaccination schedule”, he stressed.
As it is not included in the mentioned calendar, it has been recently approved and it is indicated only for special cases, the public health effectors do not have the herpes zoster vaccine.
2023-08-12 13:10:00
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