"The herpes zoster vaccine, which has already proved effective for preventing shingles in a large clinical trial, may be even more effective in broad clinical practice. Researchers studied 75,761 vaccinated men and women 60 and older and 227,283 unvaccinated people matched for age. All were participants in a Southern California health plan that covered the cost of the shots. The study, published Jan. 12 in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found a 55 percent reduction in incidence of the painful condition, consistent with the 51 percent found in the clinical trial. But it also found that the vaccine was effective across all ages, while the trial had found it less effective in its oldest subjects.
The vaccine worked equally well in both sexes, across all racial groups, and in those with chronic diseases like diabetes or kidney, lung and liver conditions. (Herpes Zoster Vaccine )"
The shingles are like an extreme case of the chicken pox and usually occurs in adults. However, my best friend had them at the age of fourteen. I can remember her not being allowed to leave her house because of the possibility of spreading them. One good thing about getting them at a young age, she does not have any scarring from where the spots were. My best friend was lucky, however, my grandmother also had the shingles right before she passed away and they caused her a great amount of pain. So any vaccine that could potentially keep people from getting this is a great advancement for the medical world.
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