herpes zoster day 3

… that depends on your health history.

If you have an autoimmune disease, the protection against the shingles infection wanes about 5 years after receiving the shingles vaccine.  The most common autoimmune diseases in this research project was rheumatoid arthritis (40%), psoriasis (33%), inflammatory bowel disease (20%), and then other assorted autoimmune problems.

There is a long-term Shingles Prevention Study which is watching how effective the shingles vaccine is in different patient populations.

Shingles cases among UNvaccinated patients is about 1.33 cases per 100 person-years.  Vaccinated patients had about half the risk of shingles compared to nonvaccinated patients.  The researchers are looking into the benefit from a booster vaccine after initial vaccination, when this should be given, and if this is effective at preventing herpes zoster.

I’ll keep you posted.