New Study: Shingles Raise Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

by PRC Agency PR

Shingles is known to be an awfully agonizing experience. But researchers found that it can also cause strokes and heart attacks.

Elderly people were found to be more than twice as likely to have a stroke within the initial week following the shingles attack. The risk for a heart attack was double.

In a study that was interested in the link between shingle outbreaks causing heart attacks, researchers analyzed 67,000 U.S. Medicare patients who had both a zoster virus outbreak and experienced a stroke or a heart attack occurring a year after the painful blisters, said Caroline Minassian and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

"We observed a marked increase in the rate of acute cardiovascular events in the first week after zoster diagnosis: a 2.4-fold increased ischemic stroke rate and a 1.7-fold increased MI (heart attack) rate," said researchers. "The most marked increase was observed during the first week following zoster diagnosis."

The researchers believe this increased risk may be due to two causes; the virus might be copying itself with the arterial walls -this disturbance can unlatch some arterial plaque and cause a heart attack or stroke- or the outbreak pain can create stress that is strong enough to raise the blood pressure.

Shingles, caused by the varicella-zoster virus, are a result of the virus that childhood chicken pox carried. Like similar viruses, it remains with the body forever.

The immune system should be able to control the virus after the initial outbreak –chicken pox- but the immune system can weaken through age, cancer or any additional diseases that suppress the immune system. When the immune system is depressed then the virus is able to become active and this is when the re-emergence occurs.

Shingles is common. Approximately a million Americans have an outbreak each year.

The chicken pox has itchy symptoms but with shingles there is a lot of pain. This pain has been known to last months after the healing of blisters.

A few patients had been vaccinated. The vaccines protect against chickenpox and shingles. The zoster virus has no cure but antiviral drugs are used to help.

For more information on strengthening the immune system please visit Fenvir's website.