Today (Thursday), the Ministry of Health announced the availability of the shingles-resistant vaccine in the Ministry’s primary care centers, indicating that it is taken as two doses, separated by two to six months.
The ministry said that the vaccine helps prevent or reduce the risk of contracting shingles in adults, and reduces the impact of complications for those infected.
The ministry warned that a person infected with shingles can transmit the virus to people who do not have immunity to chickenpox, through the air or direct contact, people with weak immune systems, pregnant women and newborns, and a person with shingles remains a carrier of infection until Herpes blisters disappear, and direct contact with anyone should be avoided.
And she continued, that among the dangerous groups are people with weak immunity, pregnant women, and newborn children, warning that the infected person remains a carrier of the infection until the disappearance of herpes blisters.
Signs and symptoms of shingles usually appear on a small part on one side of the body only. These signs and symptoms may include severe pain, burning, numbness or tingling sensations, sensitivity to touch, a red rash that appears a few days after the pain begins, and fluid-filled blisters It breaks open and crusts over, itches, and some people feel fever, headache, sensitivity to light, and fatigue.
For some people, complications include persistent shingles pain long after the blisters have cleared.
This condition is known as post-herpetic neuralgia, and it occurs when damaged nerve fibers send conflicting and excessive pain messages from the skin to the brain. Shingles may cause painful inflammation in or around the eye, which can lead to loss of vision.
Depending on which nerves are affected, shingles can cause encephalitis, facial paralysis, balance or hearing problems, and if not treated properly, shingles can lead to skin infections.
Shingles changes the lifestyle radically, in general, in some cases, and the disease develops into potentially serious complications, such as chronic nerve pain that occurs in about 30% of cases and eye complications that occur in about 25% of cases that may lead to vision loss. .