4 ms·
Flu vaccine increases risk of shingles: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.13055 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.13055
by jonatron 4y ago
Flu vaccine increases risk of shingles: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.13055 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.13055
- IHLayman 4y ago“There was a slight increase in risk of HZ in people receiving influenza vaccine in the first 1–15 days after vaccination.” That’s kind of overselling it, isn’t it? The OP study says that stroke chances are lowered for 6 months. I think many people would take that trade off.
- jonatron 4y agoFigure 4D in the stroke study shows how small the hazard is for younger people, and how small the difference is. The shingles study shows the shingles IRR is higher for people under 65. As another comment says "I wonder at what age flu shots provide overwhelming benefits.", that is the reason why I posted it.
- jimmygrapes 4y agoI actually got shingles 2 days after flu vaccination in 2017. I had chicken pox twice as a kid and the common idea (old wives' tale?) at that time was if you got chicken pox you wouldn't get shingles. I don't know that the vaccine contributed or not, but it's an odd coincidence. Luckily it was a mild case handled by amoxicillin.
- rawicki 4y agoIt’s actually the other way around. Going through chicken pox as a kid increases the chance to have a shingles as it is caused by the same virus being dormant in your body. When infected the first time you can have chicken pox as an adult. Amoxicillin is an antibiotic and can be given for the risk of opportunistic infections but it doesn’t treat a viral disease by itself.
- jimmygrapes 4y agoGood to know! I suspected that was the case since it is a variant of herpes, dormant in most cases but with the potential to reassert itself when the immune system is struggling.