Shingles Raises Stroke Risk

Ayanna Haskell

3:56 pm

10/09/09

Adults with shingles are at high risk of having a stroke, usually when it affects the eye area. The exact cause is unknown. The study was done by Taiwanese doctor Dr. Jiunn-Horng Kang and his team at the Taipei Medical University Hospital in Taiwan. Shingles is a skin rash that results form an infection of the variclla zoster virus which is also the cause of chickenpox. The virus remains in the body and can erupt again. The colleagues studied data on over 7,700 people who were treated for shingles and 1.7% of those people had strokes. The risk of the stroke is in the one year period in the shingles group. When it effected the eye there was a 4.3 times higher than in the control. The most common type of stroke that occurs is the ischemmic (31% of former shingle victims get this form of stroke) then the next highest is hemorrhagic. There is no treatment of for the risk of strokes. Because shingles is not the only risk of strokes, people should also prevent other risk factors of strokes. Shingles starts with itchiness on the face and body and increases with age. This is the first study done of this kind.

Shingles is usually not discussed because you rarely hear about it. Stroke is a very serious illness and can easily cause death. I think all risks that increase your chances should be taken serious but I don't think people with shingles should worry too much about. The chances seem very slim according to the statistics given. What I don't understand is, why there is a higher risk of getting a stroke if the shingles occur around the eye area. No data supports this reasoning. More research should be done to further understand the cause of this illness. Although I do believe this information is something good to be able to have in the open.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/10/08/shingles-raises-stroke-risk-study.html