Herpes Zoster, ‘Shingles Awareness Week’ to inform about the risks

The ‘Shingles Awareness Week’ is back from 27 February to 5 March, a global week to increase understanding of the impact of Herpes Zoster, the so-called Shingles, on the lives of fragile people and patients and to encourage discussion on the risks and on the complications of this disease that can be prevented. Promoted worldwide by GlaxoSmithKline (Gsk) in collaboration with the International Federation on Aging (Ifa), and in Italy under the patronage of Italia Longeva, the second edition of the initiative finds a country more attentive to the issue of prevention and more inclined to deepen the risks of the disease, but still poorly informed.

In a survey conducted by Ipsos in Italy on 300 people between the ages of 40 and 75 – reports Gsk – it emerges that there is still little awareness of St. Anthony’s Fire: 47% of the sample does not know the seriousness of the pathology and only one out of two know that debilitating pain is one of the main symptoms. Despite this, the majority of participants (64%) acknowledge that the impact of shingles on quality of life is “extremely negative”. Just to underline the fact that this painful and disabling pathology can be prevented, the theme of Shingles Awareness Week 2023 is ‘Ignite your passions, don’t let the shingles stop you’.

The virus that causes Herpes Zoster is that of varicella-zoster, which causes chicken pox, a note recalls. More than 90% of adults over 50 have already contracted the virus and one in three adults will develop the disease in their lifetime. That’s why it’s important to be aware of the possible risks and discuss with your doctor to find out what prevention tools are available today and what you can do to reduce the risk of developing shingles. “Herpes Zoster, a recrudescence of the varicella virus experienced as children, when it recurs in adulthood attacks the nerves, especially in those subjects, such as the elderly, who have a deficient immunity or a frail picture due to the presence of comorbidities – says Roberto Bernabei, president of Italia Longeva – The disease greatly worsens the quality of life of those affected and can have very dangerous results if it affects some critical points such as the trigeminal nerve, even causing blindness. post-herpetic, a complication that can manifest itself after some time causing excruciating pain along the affected nerve, often not treatable with drugs.A way to ensure that the shingles do not light up and avoid all these dreadful sequelae c ‘is and is vaccination’.

Particular attention to the issue of the protection of fragile patients – continues the note – is reserved for people with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus, for whom the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Siti), the diabetes doctors (AMD) and the Italian Society of Diabetology (SID) have recommended, as stated in a joint document dated 25 January, the “anti-Herpes Zoster vaccination with adjuvanted recombinant vaccine starting from 18 years of age”, in addition to the others available (anti-influenza, anti-pneumococcal, anti-Sars-CoV-2, anti-meningococcal B and ACWY, anti-hepatitis B, anti-diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and anti-measles, mumps, rubella and varicella).

The Ipsos survey also shows that only 26% have spoken to their doctor about shingles and prevention tools and, among patients suffering from other comorbidities and who are immunosuppressed for other conditions, the figure rises to 30%. The interviewees agree on one thing: for 65% it should be the doctor himself who initiates the discussion about the disease with his patient. “Vaccines ‘make life’, but there is no awareness, especially among the elderly, of this opportunity for prevention which helps to age better – observes Bernabei – In the case of Herpes Zoster, today we have a recombinant protein vaccine available which it has proven to be highly effective in preventing the disease and its sequelae, offered free of charge to 65-year-olds and subjects at increased risk, based on regional access.One more reason to evaluate the opportunity to get vaccinated together with your trusted doctor “.

There are many public initiatives that offer opportunities for free prevention both to the population over 65 and to frail people, through vaccination projects and campaigns. Among these, the Open day organized by the A. Gemelli Irccs University Hospital in Rome on Thursday 2 March, that of 28 February at the Vaccination Center of the San Giuseppe Moscati Hospital in Avellino and, on Saturday 4 March, in Milan at the Great Metropolitan Hospital Niguarda. Added to these appointments are the initiatives of active calls for the anti-Herpes Zoster vaccination, promoted by various health agencies at the local level for those over 65, such as those envisaged in Lombardy by Asst Valle Olona and in Veneto by the Ulss company 8 Berica.