Health Watch — Vaccinations: Shingles
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This week on Health Watch, we’re talking about vaccinations adults may need. Chicken pox is a childhood disease that may strike again in a different way later in life. Shingles, which causes a painful, blistering skin rash, is caused by the same virus as chicken pox. Now there’s a vaccine for shingles that boosts immunity so the chicken pox virus doesn’t reactivate.
Dr. Craig Rubin, chairman of geriatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says the vaccine has been approved for adults over 60, but it isn’t known if it will work for patients over 80 or how long the vaccine is effective. The vaccine doesn’t treat an active shingles infection. If you’ve recently had shingles, talk to your doctor about whether you should have this vaccine.
Visit http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/patientcare/medicalservices/geriatrics.html to learn more about UT Southwestern’s clinical services in geriatrics.
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