Stop shingles in its tracks
Herpes zoster and its sequelae are painful, debilitating—and largely preventable. So why isn’t vaccination more widespread?
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends routine vaccination to prevent both HZ and PHN in healthy adults who are 60 years of age and older (individuals with primary or acquired immunodeficiencies or patients on immunosuppressive therapies should not be vaccinated), and suggests that practitioners offer the HZ vaccine to appropriate patients at their first visit.7 It is not necessary, however, to ask about the patient’s history of varicella or to conduct serologic testing to determine varicella immunity before administering the HZ vaccine.7 A history of shingles is not a contraindication, so advise patients who develop HZ to come in for vaccination soon after the rash and pain resolve.
CORRESPONDENCE
Pierre-Olivier Lang, MD, MPH, PhD, University Hospitals of Geneva, Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Chemin du Pont-Bochet, 3, CH-1226, Thonex-Geneva, Switzerland; pierre.o.lang@hcuge.ch
