2023-06-12 13:11:01
numbers, data, facts
Shingles vaccine against dementia – could this be the breakthrough? medic assesses
According to researchers, there is apparently a connection between a shingles infection and dementia.
imago stock&people, imago/Westend61
“Zoster vaccination reduces new cases of dementia” – by 19.9 percent! According to a preprint study carried out by researchers from the Universities of Stanford, Heidelberg, Mainz and Vienna. But how is the result of this study to be evaluated? A breakthrough in dementia research? General Practitioner Dr. Christoph Specht classifies the latest findings for you.
Does shingles cause dementia?
{window.dataLayer.push({event: ‘link_click’,link_type: ‘intern’,link_url: ‘https://www.rtl.de/cms/studie-mittelmeer-diaet-koennte-demenz risk-reduce-5016867.html ‘})})()”> Many studies have already proven connections between different diets and dementia, for example. Nonetheless: “The causes of dementia are still largely unclear”the researchers write at the beginning of the publication of the current preprint study on the Medrxiv portal.
However, they now seem to have taken an important step forward. Because: Your analyzes should establish a causal connection between the vaccination against herpes zoster (better known under the name {window.dataLayer.push({event: ‘link_click’,link_type: ‘intern’,link_url: ‘https://www.rtl.de/cms/gesundheitslexikon-guertelrose-herpes-zoster-4047678.html’})})()”> Gürtelrose) and a protection against dementia. In other words, it has been found that shingles infection can cause dementia. But is that really true?
Expert classifies the study: “Too clearly presented”
dr Christoph Specht classifies the latest research results in the RTL interview.
dr Christoph Specht, RTL
Speaking of causality, Dr. Christoph Specht in the RTL interview for wrong: “These studies were presented too clearly in the media”, he explains. And further: “It was said that a causal – a causal – connection had now been found between dementia and shingles.” But: “It’s not like that.” One found out more of a hint, an association.
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“Two groups of people were looked at: those who had been vaccinated against shingles, i.e. the flare-up of the chickenpox virus, and another group who had not been vaccinated against shingles,” says Specht, explaining the researchers’ approach.
After that, you observed for seven years: who gets demented, who doesn’t? “It showed that those who were vaccinated were almost 20 percent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia.”
“It’s probably very worthwhile to avoid getting shingles”
Even if the expert warns against deriving a definitive connection between dementia and shingles from the results: “It probably pays a lot to avoid shingles.”
Then: On their own, the current results are not very significant, but together with other studies they are! The following has already been proven there: if shingles hits herpes cells in the body (for example from cold sores), it is a constellation that can lead to proteins typical of Alzheimer’s being deposited.
Shingles: how it develops and who should be vaccinated
Shingles is a flare-up of the {window.dataLayer.push({event: ‘link_click’,link_type: ‘intern’,link_url: ‘https://www.rtl.de/cms/gesundheitslexikon-windpocken-varizellen-4046762.html’})})()”> Windpocken. And everyone has come into contact with them at some point – if you didn’t get it as a child, you at least got the vaccination. And that’s enough!
“The virus can be reactivated in old age,” explains Specht. Then in the form of a {window.dataLayer.push({event: ‘link_click’,link_type: ‘intern’,link_url: ‘https://www.rtl.de/cms/gesundheitslexikon-guertelrose-herpes-zoster-4047678.html’})})()”> Gürtelrose. “Fortunately, you can vaccinate against it and you should take notice of it,” he advises.
But who is the shingles vaccine intended for? The Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) advises the following groups of people to be vaccinated:
- people over 60 years of age
- Persons aged 50 and over who are at increased health risk as a result of an underlying disease
A shingles vaccination is not only useful because of the latest research results. Because: The shingles is accompanied by a burning pain, followed by a mostly one-sided, band-like spread of blisters in the skin area belonging to the affected nerve, as the RKI explains on its website. And: Nerve pain can still occur in the previously affected skin region for several months to years after the actual disease has healed. (vho)
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