Mayo Clinic article offers data about shin...(278 adults in the United States each yea...),Health

Overall, our data suggests that researchers and physicians also need to consider preventing shingles in people ages 50 to 59, says Dr. Yawn. Future research is needed to understand the risk of recurrence of shingles to better advise people who previously had shingles about the value of receiving the shingles vaccine.

Dr. Yawn noted that study data also challenged the assumption that shingles primarily affects adults with weakened immune systems.

More than 92 percent of the study subjects with shingles did not have any conditions like cancer or other serious illnesses that affected their immune system, says Dr. Yawn.

Post-herpetic neuralgia was the most common complication noted, occurring in about 8 percent of all people and increasing with age. This sometimes debilitating complication causes the skin to remain painful and sensitive to touch for months or even years after the rash clears up.

About 18 percent of people age 80 or older experience pain that lasts more than 90 days beyond the shingles, explains Dr. Yawn.

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