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Don’t shrug off shingles
If you had chickenpox as a kid, there is a good chance you may develop shingles later in life. “In fact, one in three is predicted to get shingles during their lifetime,” says Dr. Anne Louise Oaklander, director of the Nerve Unit at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. The same varicella-zoster virus that causes chickenpox also causes shingles. After the telltale spots of chickenpox vanish, the virus lies dormant in your nerve cells near the spinal cord and brain. When your immunity weakens from normal aging or from illnesses or medications, the virus can re-emerge. It then travels along a nerve to trigge...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Healthy Aging Infectious diseases Vaccines Source Type: news

Shingles rash linked to higher risk of stroke
Shingles, the nerve rash in adulthood caused by reactivation of the chickenpox virus, is an independent risk factor for stroke and other blood clot events, the largest study to confirm the association has found.Publishing their findings in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the researchers found that shingles was a risk factor for stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA, a mini-stroke).The increased risk was independent of other factors known to raise the chances of vascular events, including obesity, smoking and high cholesterol.
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - January 3, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Stroke Source Type: news