Health department offers shingles vaccine

By CANDACE CHASE

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead City-County Health Department now offers a vaccine to prevent shingles in adults 60 and older.

Health officials said many private health-care providers also have the vaccine.

Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. After a person suffers a bout of chicken pox, the virus may remain alive but inactive in one or more nerve roots in the body.

For reasons not completely understood, the virus may reactivate, causing shingles.

Shingles appears as a rash, usually on one side of the body. Beginning as a cluster of small red spots, the rash often blisters, causing considerable pain for up to 30 days.

Public health nurse Karen Livinggood said the county department gets a number of phone calls each year from people with shingles.

She said the vaccine can't be used to treat shingles once a person has the disease. Those people should see their health-care provider within the first few days of getting the rash for possible treatment with an antiviral medicine such as acyclovir.

Livinggood said the vaccine wasn't studied for people who previously suffered outbreaks of shingles. Health officials say these people need to consult their health-care provider about the vaccine.

The vaccine works by helping the immune system protect a person from getting shingles.

In studies of the vaccine, Zostavax, researchers found immunizations reduced the occurrence of shingles by 50 percent in people 60 and older. The vaccine was most effective in people between 60 and 69.

People who should not receive this live vaccine include those who:

. Are allergic to neomycin or gelatin.

. Have a weakened immune system. This includes people being treated with radiation or corticosteroids and people with diseases such as AIDS or cancer of the lymph system, bones or blood.

People in close contact with pregnant women who have not had chicken pox need to consult with their health-care provider before getting an immunization.

The vaccine costs $161 per dose and currently is not covered by Medicare. Clinics take place at the county health department at 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

Hours for walk-in immunization clinics are 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m. each weekday except Wednesday, when immunizations are offered from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Zostavax is given as a single dose by injection. The need for revaccination and the duration of protection are not yet known.

For additional information, contact the health department at 751-8110.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.