New research intends to find a link between receiving one mRNA vaccine for covid-19 and shingles, also known as shingles, to certain people with autoimmune conditions. But while the connection may be worth exploring, the average person should not be worried about this possible risk. or pay close attention to the misleading news articles that cover the research.
The study was published last week in the journal Rheumatology by Israeli scientists. They studied people with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases, conditions that include rheumatoid arthritis, and compared them to a similar group of people who did not have autoimmune diseases. Out of almost 500 patients with these conditions, they identified six (1.2%) who developed shingles shortly after administration of the Pfizer / BioNTech covid-19 vaccine, compared to zero in the control group. who also received the shot.
The findings, the authors wrote, show that more research is needed to “clarify the association” between the Pfizer mRNA vaccine and shingles, a disease caused by varicella-zoster virus. Importantly, this does not mean the vaccine he gave them the shingles virus.
Lead author Victoria Furer was careful to tell them Jerusalem Post on On Monday, they could not say that “the vaccine is the cause” of these cases at this time. At most, she added, vaccination “could be a trigger for some patients.” But that didn’t stop the New York Post from spinning the results with the biggest click possibly with title today: “Possible herpes infection related to the covid-19 vaccine, the study says.”
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The above are technically true. Shingles is caused by the same virus responsible for chickenpox, a member of the herpesvirus family called chickenpox. But when people see the words “herpes infection,” the most will no doubt believe that we are talking about genital herpes, the sexually transmitted infection caused by two other herpesviruses. The Jerusalem Post, for part, realized Clearly the study was about shingles, but people would do it probably recognizes the disease more frequently as shingles.
Simply naming the shingles area as a herpes infection is otherwise misleading. That’s because it’s not a new infection but rather the reactivation of the virus that has fallen asleep in the body for years to decades, following an initial case of chickenpox. This is often due to the weakening of the immune system as we age, but it is also more likely. happen at a younger age in people with autoimmune disorders. Once the area reappears, it can cause distinct rashes and sometimes excruciating nerve pain that may continue to persist after the infection is beaten back. Fortunately, those vaccine against chickenpox seems to have a much lower risk of shingles and there is now a vaccine available specific for shingles.
In reality, vaccination with covid-19 is not plausible to increase one’s risk of reactivating shingles. There is some evidence that covid-19 itself may shutter shingles due to its effects on the immune system or the stress it causes people. And at least some scientists, dating from the late 1990s, have anxious that the immune response to any vaccine it could temporarily make people more vulnerable to shingles. All of these theoretical risks could be amplified in people whose immune systems are already compromised or who are taking medication to lower their hyperactive immune system, as were some of the patients in this study.
At least one case report and several anecdotes from doctors have also suggested a link between covid-19 vaccines and shingles. But other experts have rightly done so ADVISED that we simply do not have strong evidence of a direct causal link between the two at this time. Ecome in this new study, the link does not seem overwhelmingly clear, given that only 1.2% of patients with an autoimmune disease developed shingles after vaccination. In the meantime, it doesn’t exist yet indication of an increased risk of shingles after vaccination in the general public.
So yes, although scientists need to continue to study this connection, it is unlikely to be anything but a very rare risk among people who are already vulnerable to shingles. And no, the covid-19 vaccine will not give you herpes.