How More Kids Getting the Chickenpox Vaccine Could Temporarily Increase Shingles Cases

Though having the chickenpox might be a distant memory, dreading the possibility of coming down with shingles in the future could very well be a present worry.

Perhaps you've heard the commercial with the phrase "If you've had the chickenpox, the shingles virus is already inside of you." Perhaps you've known someone who has suffered an outbreak of the itchy and painful shingles rash.

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But what about the kids who are getting vaccinated against the chickenpox virus all together, never experiencing the full-body coverage of red spots? They too are at risk for developing shingles later in life, but a recent study suggests that vaccination could actually drive up shingles cases, at least temporarily.

Wait, the chickenpox vaccine could increase cases of shingles? Yes, here's how.

More kids getting the vaccine equals less kids actually coming down with the chickenpox and exposing each other to it the old-fashioned way, researchers from the Universities of Antwerp and Hasselt in Belgium explained. This re-exposure to the virus was known to boost immunity against shingles. As a result, a few decades later those vaccinated as children, now adults, could see an increase in shingles cases, due to less immunity boosting re-exposure.

The researchers, who published a study on their new model in the journal eLife, predicted there would be a temporary rise in shingles cases among the 31 to 40-year-old age group. Those who are more likely to see an increase in shingles risk are younger than previously predicted and are less likely to suffer the more serious symptoms of the condition compared to older people.

If a 100 percent effective vaccine program is implemented in all 1-year-olds, the researchers predicted a "net increase in [shingles] incidence during 50 years and a 1.75 peak fold increase 31 years after introduction of the vaccination program. This delay in the [shingles] peak incidence is caused by cohorts born close to the time varicella vaccination was introduced experiencing less repeated boosting instances during their childhood than previously born cohorts."

It was previously thought that re-exposure to the chickenpox virus boosted shingles immunity for up to 20 years, but the new modeling, based on immunological and virological data, from these universities suggested it only lasts two years.

"We were surprised to find that re-exposure to chickenpox is beneficial for so few years and also that the most pronounced effect of vaccination on increasing cases of shingles is in younger adults," Dr. Benson Ogunjimi, the study's lead author said in a statement.

Some countries, like the U.S. have increasingly been giving and even requiring kids to get vaccinated against the varicella zoster virus. Other countries, like the U.K., decided to delay implementation of such a vaccine program for fear that it might increase shingles cases.

"Our findings should allay some fears about implementing childhood chickenpox vaccination," Ogunjimi said.

Dr. Mark Chalberg recently told the Huffington Post that those who receive the chickenpox vaccine, yes, are still able to get shingles later in life, but if it were to happen, "it would be a mild case of it."

As for whether adults now, who contracted chickenpox as children, could see an increase in shingles due to fewer incidents of chickenpox in the population due to an increase in vaccination, a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist said last year that it's an unlikely correlation.

According to the National Institutes of Health, anyone who has had the chickenpox is at risk for shingles, but it's most common in the over 50-year-old age group and in those with compromised immune systems.

Symptoms of shingles include a burning or shooting pain, often on one side of the body or face, followed by rashes or blisters. The pain of shingles, according to the NIH, can last anywhere from weeks to years, even after blisters have disappeared.

There is a shingles vaccine available for those at risk.

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