How the vaccine can help against shingles

There are still many misconceptions about shingles. That would be a skin disease or that it would be related to poor hygiene, for example. In most cases the consequences of shingles are limited to skin irritation and fortunately it passes by itself, but in some cases the consequences are much more serious. Hence the very different experiences you hear about it. For some it is an irritating but short-lived discomfort, for others it leads to serious complaints.

Shingles is a legacy of the chickenpox virus

First, what is it anyway? Shingles is, so to speak, a legacy of the chickenpox virus, which most people come into contact with as a child. The virus remains dormant in the spinal cord after an infection with this varicella zoster virus and can reactivate later in life. It is not known what causes the virus to reawaken again, but it is known that the chance of this happening is greater if someone’s resistance (temporarily) deteriorates. And because everyone’s immune system responds less and less actively and effectively after age fifty, the risk of shingles increases after this age.