A study shows the connection between corona and an increased risk of shingles. What a chickenpox pathogen has to do with it and what the symptoms are.
Bremen – That a corona infection has serious consequences such as Long Covid can entail is known. The level of suffering is often enormous: “Brain fog” often complicates everyday life for a long time after long Covid. And at some depression even occurs in the aftermath of Long Covid. But an infection with the corona virus can also lead to another unpleasant disease: shingles.
The connection between corona infections – from BA.2.75 to XXB to BQ.1.1, there are currently a lot of omicron variants – and the occurrence of the painful skin disease was confirmed in an American study.
Why this is so, what a chickenpox pathogen has to do with it and what the symptoms are.
Study from the USA proves connection between corona infection and shingles
The news about the corona virus and how to deal with it is currently a little ambivalent – even if the list of possible late effects of a Covid 19 disease seems to be getting longer and longer. While some federal states such as Schleswig-Holstein or Bavaria want to abolish the obligation to isolate people infected with corona, experts in many places are warning of a severe winter corona pandemic – triggered primarily by the ever-expanding and highly contagious Omikron-Varianten wie BA.2.75the so-called “Hellhound” BQ.1.1 or the newer one Variant XBB. The risk of contracting Covid-19 is high, especially now that it is getting colder again in autumn and winter. Many people are also at risk of reinfection – depending on the omicron virus variant of the initial infection, the risk increases.
After corona infection: According to the study, the risk of shingles increases by at least 15 percent
With shingles, another disease is now apparently part of the long list of possible consequences of a corona infection. American scientists led by Amit Bhavsar from the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline found a clear connection between the two diseases corona and shingles. According to the study, the risk of shingles increases by 15 percent in people over the age of 50. According to the findings of the researchers, age is a decisive factor for the onset of the skin disease – but also the severity of the Covid 19 disease.
After a severe course of corona with hospitalization, the risk is even increased by 21 percent. For the new study, which was published in the specialist journal “Open Forum Infectious Diseases” and sheds light on the connections between a corona infection and shingles, the researchers evaluated health insurance data from around 1.6 million people with regard to the question of whether afterwards increased incidence of shingles due to corona disease.
Connection between corona and shingles: chickenpox pathogen responsible
However, it is not the corona virus itself that is responsible for the skin disease shingles, but another virus: the varicella-zoster virus. Most adults carry it because it also causes the highly contagious infectious disease chickenpox. Most older people were not vaccinated as children and have had chickenpox at some point in their lives.
However, the insidious thing about the “childhood disease” chickenpox is: The viruses remain inactive in the body, even after the acute illness has been overcome. To a certain extent, they “slumber” in the nerve knots – for a lifetime. A person’s immune system normally ensures that they cannot harm anything. However, if this is weakened – as with a corona infection – then the varicella-zoster virus can break out again and strike in the form of shingles.
There is an increased risk of shingles in people over the age of 50 – often shortly after a corona infection
The medical term for shingles is herpes zoster. The data evaluated in the study showed that the disease often appeared a week after the Covid disease – in some even shortly afterwards. Those affected then struggled with two diseases: Corona and shingles. However, the skin disease can also occur with a delay. According to the study, eight to ten weeks later. The risk does not normalize again until six months after the corona disease.
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onnection between corona and shingles: weakened immune system is the key
da das immune system is heavily burdened by a corona infection, the immune cells are severely exhausted – the body’s defenses “weak”. Even when the illness is over, this is often still the case. And so it comes next Long Covid and Co. often also lead to shingles. The immune cells are simply no longer able to keep the varicella-zoster viruses dormant in the body in check. The pathogens become active again and multiply.
Symptoms of shingles often appear shortly after infection with Corona
The symptoms of shingles that can occur after a corona infection are fatigue, headaches and often fever. Noisy aponet.de The reactivated pathogens “migrate” along the nerve tracts to the skin, where they cause pain and typical rashes and blisters. Usually only the nerves on one side of the body are affected, which is why the rash often only appears as a band on one side.
First, there is pain in the affected areas, the skin is extremely irritated and sensitive. Reddening of the skin occurs for one to two days, which later turns into blisters. At the latest now, a doctor’s office should be consulted, because the antiviral drugs (virostatics) that fight the varicella-zoster virus should be taken within 72 hours after the onset of the symptoms. Common painkillers such as ibuprofen or paracemtamol help against the pain.
Shingles usually heals after four weeks – but serious complications are possible
Shingles usually heals after four weeks. The blisters then heal and the immune system regenerates. However, complications can also occur if the pathogens have also affected areas in the head, such as the eyes or ears. Then hearing or vision problems can remain. Around 15 to 20 percent of shingles patients develop aloud Focus also a so-called postherpetic neuralgia (PZN), i.e. permanent nerve pain in the nerve tracts along which the pathogens have moved. This can manifest itself in constant pain or pain attacks, often over many months.
Vaccination against shingles recommended for people over 60 years of age
The Standing Vaccination Committee (Stiko) of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recommends a zoster vaccination for all people over the age of 60 so that, in the best-case scenario, shingles does not occur in the first place. It is covered by the health insurance companies. The inactivated vaccine can usually be administered by the family doctor. People with pre-existing conditions such as Diabetes or asthma, vaccination is recommended from the age of 50.