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Shingles Immunizations & Facts

Shingles Facts & Shingles Immunizations

What Causes Shingles?
Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you have had chickenpox (and over 90% of U.S. adults have) you are at-risk for shingles. The chickenpox virus remains in your body staying inactive in certain nerves, if the virus becomes active again (usually later in life) it will cause shingles. 

How Do You Get Shingles?
You are at-risk for getting shingles if you have had chickenpox. In addition: conditions that weaken the body’s immune (defense) system, such as aging, cancer, or certain drugs, increase the chance that the virus will become active again, resulting in shingles.

There is no way to predict who will get shingles, or when. Approximately half of the nearly one million shingles cases in the United States each year occur in people aged 60 years and older. One out of two people who live to age 85 will get shingles; and the older you are, the longer the Shingles rash may last.

Key Facts about Shingles
Shingles, also called herpes zoster (HZ), is a painful disease that can affect anyone who has had chickenpox; it may start at any time, without warning. The first signs of shingles are often felt rather than seen, and may include: itching, tingling and burning. A few days later a rash of fluid-filled blisters appears, usually on one side of the body or face; sometimes the pain (before the rash appears) may be confused with other conditions and making early diagnosis difficult. 

Who is at Risk for Shingles?
If you have had chickenpox you are at risk for Shingles.

What Are the Risk Factors For Shingles?
If you have had chickenpox, aging, or a compromised immune (defense) system.

Who Is Affected by Shingles?
It is estimated that in the United States up to one million cases of shingles occur every year. As you can see from the bar graph below, shingles increases with age, and of these 1,000,000 cases, 40% to 50% occur in people 60 years of age and older.

What Are the Complications of Shingles?

• Scarring

• Hearing loss

• Bacterial skin infections

• Changes in vision, including potential vision loss

• Paralysis on one side of the face

• Muscle weakness

• Long-term nerve pain called post herpetic neuralgia (PHN)

• Allodynia (pain from the slightest touch of the skin such as a slight breeze over the skin or contact of clothing on the skin)

What Is Long-Term Pain After Shingles?
For most people the pain associated with the shingles rash lessens as it heals. However, for some people after the rash heals, shingles may lead to long-term nerve pain that can last for months or even years called postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN.

The pain may range from tenderness, burning, or throbbing to a stabbing or shooting pain. The level of pain may range from mild or moderate to severe, and as one ages it increases the risk for long-term nerve pain.

Shingles Immunizations
Mollen Immunization Clinics offers the ZOSTAVAX vaccine for adults to prevent Shingles (also known as zoster). The vaccine works by helping your immune system protect you from getting shingles and the associated pain and other serious complications.

The Immunizations For Shingles is available at the Mollen Immunization Clinics Scottsdale office (8328 E Hartford Drive) Monday - Friday 10 AM to 2 PM. Please Complete the SHINGLES PRE-SCREENING QUESTIONS to ensure that you are a candidate for the vaccine at this time. Click Here to download the Pre-Screening Questionnaire. If you qualify, then please contact a Mollen Immunization Clinics Nurse at 480-214-2000 x300 to complete your screening and to schedule your immunization.

Community Immunizations
We conduct Shingles Immunizations in the community through scheduled community events; to schedule a Shingles Immunization Clinic at your organization please contact us.