Herpes zoster vaccination may mitigate risk of stroke in herpes patients

Chickenpox (chickenpox) is an acute infectious disease which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), a DNA virus member of the herpesvirus group. After the primary infection, VZV remains a latent infection in the body (in the sensory nerve ganglia). Primary disease with VZV causes chickenpox.

The research was conducted by a group of research scholars to determine stroke risk 30 days after zoster infection and to evaluate the effect of zoster vaccines on stroke risk in VZV-infected patients.

This retrospective case-control study starting from January 2010 to January 2020 was conducted using nationwide patient data from the Veterans Affairs Institutional Data Warehouse.

Results of the study:

• A total of 2,165,505 patients aged 18 years and older receiving care at a Veterans Affairs facility were included in the study, of which 71,911 had a history of zoster infection.

• Zoster patients were 1.9 times more likely to develop a stroke within 30 days of infection.

• Patients with recombinant or live zoster vaccine had a reduced risk of stroke.

Thus, Ganapathi Iyer et al. concluded that patients had a significantly higher risk of stroke in the first month following their last herpes zoster infection. Getting at least one zoster vaccine was found to reduce this increased risk. Therefore, vaccination can be seen as a protective tool against the risk of sequelae after neurological infection.

Reference:

Ganapathi Iyer Parameswaran, MBBS, Bethany A Wattengel, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, Hubert C Chua, PharmD, Jessica Swiderek, PharmD, Tom Fuchs, PhD, Michael T Carter, PharmD, BCPS, Laura Goode, PharmD, BCPS, Kathleen Doyle, PharmD, Kari A Mergenhagen, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, Increased Stroke Risk Following Herpes Zoster Infection and Protection with Zoster Vaccine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2022;, ciac549, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac549