Vaccines, geriatrician Bellelli: “98% Italians have come into contact with Herpes zoster”

Herpes zoster is a pathology that “affects those who have previously come into contact with the varicella zoster virus, the classic virus that causes chickenpox. It is very widespread, in fact it is estimated that approximately 98% of the Italian population has come into contact with this virus. Once the virus has caused chickenpox, it remains latent at the level of the sensory nerve ganglia and can be flared up during life in specific conditions, reactivation occurs when the subject’s immune function is reduced , a condition that mostly affects adults with certain chronic pathologies, such as diabetes, or the elderly and especially the frail elderly, in which there is a reduction in immune function”. Geriatrics at the University of Milan-Bicocca, director of the complex operational unit of Geriatrics at the foundation of Irccs San Gerardo in Monza, on the sidelines of the conference “Staying healthy thanks to vaccination prevention of adults: the example of the vaccine against Herpes Zoster”, first stage – today in Milan – of the campaign promoted by the Longevitas Foundation with the aim of improving the quality of people’s lives, optimizing and reducing, through the development of healthy longevity, healthcare spending, allowing important savings from reinvest in health.

The initiative, which took place in the Sala Gonfalone of Palazzo Pirelli in Milan, was carried out under the patronage of the Lombardy Region and the Higher Institute of Health and with the support of GSK. “Herpes zoster causes numerous symptoms, but the most important in terms of impact is the pain, which is very strong and is calculated to be even greater than the pain that women feel during labor – explains Bellelli – This pain is accompanied by rashes cutaneous, generally distributed along the skin in the innervation area. In some cases, complications may also arise, such as ophthalmic herpes zoster, in which the virus affects the part of the skin around the eyeball. Another complication is post-herpetic neuralgia, which is particularly problematic above the age of 75. But it can also cause other types of complications, such as stroke, cardiovascular diseases and, especially in frail elderly people, the loss of motor function, a condition with a devastating impact on the quality of life”.

Treatment of Herpes zoster once the virus is already reactivated is not very effective: “When the disease develops, treatment is not particularly effective, while vaccination, especially with the new recombinant vaccines recently acquired, is very effective. This effectiveness is maintained over time and therefore vaccination is strongly recommended,” he concludes.