Health: Shingles in the district of Wesel: Why vaccination is advisable

district of Wesel.
People are becoming more aware of shingles as vaccinations are increasingly advertised. The Kreis-Weseler KV chairman on the background.

Chickenpox is widespread. Herpes zoster can be a secondary disease. A typical feature here is the belt-shaped, painful reddening of the skin. The disease is also accompanied by malaise and fever, and it can sometimes trigger chronic nerve pain. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the disease occurs primarily in people over the age of 50. The good news first: There is a vaccination against shingles – Dr. Franz-Joachim Weyers, KV chairman in the district and general practitioner from Wesel, has meanwhile also been asked more frequently. He points to the increased advertising for vaccinations, “this makes people aware of them”.

Shingles: Virus lies dormant in the spinal cord

It is difficult to quantify how many people in the district become infected with shingles. According to the district, only the detection of the varietal zoster virus is notifiable if it indicates an acute infection. This virus can trigger both clinical pictures – ie chickenpox and shingles. From his experience, he cannot say that shingles diseases have increased drastically recently, there tends to be a little more cases, says Dr. Weyers.

How does shingles break out? With chickenpox, the viruses remained in the spinal cord for a lifetime, explains Dr. Weyers. Then it is always about an interplay between the immune system and virus propagation. If the immune system is weakened – for example because the body has previously gone through another infection or after cortisone therapy – the disease can occur, according to the KV chairman in the district. He recommends: “If there is no plausible reason for a weakened immune system, the family doctor should be consulted in order to have the reasons clarified.” It is possible that another disease that needs to be taken seriously is responsible for the weakened immune system.

It is crucial to start therapy early if shingles is suspected. So often only a burning, pulling pain can occur at first, which cannot be classified, the typical blisters would follow a few days later. “The sooner therapy begins, the less likely it is that it will become chronic, which can be accompanied by persistent, severe nerve pain.” That’s why vaccination makes sense. The North Rhine Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians has recently recorded increasing vaccination numbers, but there is still room for improvement.

District-Wesel doctor on the background of shingles disease

Many wondered how contagious you are when you get sick, says Dr. Weyers. “Not as contagious as chickenpox,” he says. However, infection can occur via the secretion of the small blisters as long as they are still filled with liquid, “mostly via smear infections”. As soon as the blisters have dried up, you are no longer contagious.

Many people underestimated their personal risk of contracting shingles, according to Manrico Preissel, regional director of AOK Kleve and Wesel. “But every third person will suffer from it in the course of their life. Only a few know that they already carry the pathogen. ”In the over 60 year olds it is more than 95 percent.

“Most people are not aware of how uncomfortable the symptoms of shingles, such as severe nerve pain, can be,” says Preissel. Up to 30 percent of those affected have long-term consequences. He therefore also advises vaccination, which has been covered by health insurance companies since May 2019. The Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) recommends it to people aged 60 and over. People with an underlying disease or immunodeficiency are advised to do so at the age of 50. A person who has received two vaccinations is considered to be “fully vaccinated”.

Vaccination has been taken over since 2019 – figures for the Wesel district

The AOK does not yet have data on the vaccination for 2022, but can provide figures for the period before that: “Since May 1, 2019 and up to the end of 2021, 1456 people in the Wesel district (almost seven percent of those insured with the AOK Rhineland/Hamburg) get vaccinated against shingles at least once – on average more than in the entire Rhineland, where the corresponding vaccination rate was 5.7 percent.”
According to the AOK, 831 of the AOK-insured people in the district aged 60 and over (about four percent) had received both vaccinations by the end of 2021, slightly more than in the entire Rhineland. According to the health insurance company, the average age at the time of the first vaccination was 72.7 years. Accordingly, slightly more women (57 percent) than men in the district were vaccinated.
According to the RKI, there was “no signal for serious side effects” in approval studies. However, about one in ten people who are vaccinated experience pain at the injection site, redness and swelling, fever, tiredness or headaches. Anyone considering vaccination should seek advice from their family doctor.