FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
Shingles (herpes zoster)
Why you should vaccinate adults against shingles
- Up to 50 percent of those aged 60 and older will get shingles.
- The lifetime risk of developing shingles is estimated to be about 30 percent.
- As our population ages, we can expect the absolute number of shingles cases to increase – about 98 percent of U.S. adults have had chickenpox and are, therefore, at risk for shingles.
- About one in five people who get shingles develops post-herpetic neuralgia, which diminishes quality of life and functional capacity to a degree comparable to congestive heart failure, heart attack, type II diabetes or major depression.
