Higher Stroke Risk 1 Year After Shingles

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful viral infection that is caused by the chicken pox virus that remains dormant in your body for many years. Anyone who has had the chicken pox could, at some time, develop shingles.

The rash caused by the shingles follows along a nerve line in the body, so you could have it along the belt line, but only on one side, for example. Some people have it on the face and near the eye – again only on one side – while others may have it around their ear. The blisters vary from being very painful to being very itchy and, at the same time, you feel tired and sick from the virus. All in all, it’s a very unpleasant illness.

After the shingles rash has healed, many people develop something called post herpetic neuralgia, which is nerve pain that is felt along the nerve where the shingles rash was earlier. Not everyone gets this, but it is a known after effect of shingles.

Now, researchers have found another after effect that can touch many people who have had shingles. After studying 7,760 patients 18 years and older (average age 47 years) who received shingles treatment and comparing them with over 23,000 peers who hadn’t had shingles, researchers found that while 1.3% of those who hadn’t had shingles had a stroke within the following year, 1.7% of those who had shingles did. This is a 31% increase in risk.

The researchers also found that if the shingles infection was around the eye and the eye itself, the risk for stroke increased even more.

It’s not understood why the stroke risk is higher, but this is a finding that bears further study so doctors may be able to identify patients who may be at higher risk for strokes.

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Image: Newscom.com