Test Vaccine Helps Stop Shingles

Experimental Vaccine Helps Prevent Shingles, A Painful Skin Rash

(CBS/AP)  The 74-year-old from La Jolla, Calif., later learned that he had gotten the dummy injection. He said he tucked his arm inside his shirt to keep it from touching the rash on his abdomen.

"A light touch just drives you nuts," he said.

When Letterman went back to work after his bout with shingles, he told his audience: "It hurt so much I was Michael Jackson-crazy." He devoted his Top 10 List to all the good things about shingles — then declared there's nothing good about them.

Shingles, which gets its name from the Latin word for girdle or belt, usually starts with pain, tingling or itching in a band or patch on the torso, though it can occur on the face too. That's followed by a painful rash or blisters that can last for weeks. It's caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox virus, which retreats to nerve cells where it can remain dormant.

As people age, their immunity to the virus wanes and it can re-emerge as shingles. Those with weakened immune systems are also at risk.

But the vaccine was only tested on people older than 60, so it's not clear if it will work as well in a younger population, Kaledin reports. The hope is it will, because everyone who's had chicken pox is at risk of getting shingles — that's most adults in the United States.

It can be treated with antiviral drugs but they must be used early. A case of shingles usually protects against another attack.

The vaccine tested in the VA study was a stronger version of the chickenpox vaccine that has been given to children in the United States since 1995.

"This is a different disease. The immune system of a baby and the immune system of the baby's grandparents are very different," explained Dr. Jeffrey L. Silber, who headed Merck's research team for the study.

Merck is seeking approval of the vaccine, called Zostavax, in the United States and Europe.

In a commentary in the journal, Dr. Ann Arvin of Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote: "The possibility that a feared consequence of aging may be minimized or avoided is an important advance."

Dr. Donald H. Gilden of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver said the shingles vaccine should be cost-effective because treating shingles is expensive. He said the chickenpox shot costs $50 to $100, and the more potent shingles vaccine might cost more.

Merck spokeswoman Christine Fanelle said the vaccine price isn't known yet.

Gilden, who wrote an editorial in the journal, compared having chickenpox as a child to his own brief but painful case of shingles on his arm three years ago.

"I think grown-ups need the vaccine more than the kids do," he said.