{"id":431560,"date":"2025-12-07T18:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/431560\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:57:07","slug":"study-finds-shingles-vaccine-may-reduce-risk-of-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/431560\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds Shingles vaccine may reduce risk of Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study<\/a> suggests the shingles<\/a> vaccine may lower the likelihood of developing dementia as well as slow its progression in people who have already been diagnosed with the disease.<\/p>\n

Researchers are finding more evidence that certain herpes viruses, such as shingles, which can infect the nervous system, might play a role in causing dementia.<\/p>\n

An initial study published in Nature<\/a> and a follow-up study conducted by Stanford Medicine<\/a>, published in the journal Cell<\/a> on Dec. 2, show the shingles vaccination may also have therapeutic benefits against dementia by reducing the disease’s progression and lowering the chance of dying from it.<\/p>\n

For those battling dementia, these findings are promising. Dementia cases have been predicted to increase in the coming years, according to a study<\/a> released in 2024, which states the lifetime risk of dementia could\u00a0rise to 42% after age 55 \u2212 a much faster rate than anticipated.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>Will your baby get a hep B vaccine? What RFK panel’s ruling means.<\/a><\/p>\n

Unable to view our graphics? Click here to see them.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see an effect on your probability of dying from dementia among those who already have dementia,\u201d Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer, assistant professor of medicine at\u00a0Stanford University<\/a>\u00a0and senior author of the most recent study, said of the potential effects of the shingles vaccine in a recent interview with CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means that the vaccine doesn\u2019t just have a preventive potential, but actually a therapeutic potential as a treatment, because we see some benefits already among those who have dementia,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, this was really exciting to see and unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>CDC panel delays hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. What’s next?<\/a><\/p>\n

The link: Shingles and dementia<\/p>\n

The varicella-zoster virus is a type of herpes virus that causes both chickenpox and shingles. The virus stays dormant in the body after a person has fully recovered from chickenpox. The shingles virus<\/a> often doesn’t cause any more issues, but it can reappear years later and cause shingles, a painful rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The CDC estimates that about 1 in every 3 people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime. Shingles can be prevented by getting the two-dose vaccine, which is about 90% effective<\/a> in preventing shingles in the elderly. The CDC recommends getting the vaccine when you turn 50.<\/p>\n

The study results support the growing theory that viruses affecting the brain’s function may raise the risk of dementia. Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>I’m a doctor. The babies I treat will suffer from delayed vaccines.<\/a><\/p>\n

Scientists suspect that the shingles vaccination may help by preventing the reactivation of dormant viruses like varicella zoster and herpes simplex, which are thought to contribute to brain inflammation and the accumulation of dangerous proteins linked to dementia. How that works is still unknown.<\/p>\n

Another theory is that the vaccine may strengthen the immune system more broadly, preventing immunological deterioration as people age, according to Cardiff University<\/a> in Wales.<\/p>\n

The scientists note that more research is necessary to confirm the results and gain a deeper understanding of how the vaccine affects brain health.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>Whooping cough cases are rising in the US: A closer look.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study suggests the shingles vaccine may lower the likelihood of developing dementia as well as slow…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":431561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10263,4849,347,14087,15948,24599,10755,1086,1805,632,19635,884,381,179045,26036,210,179047,20738,22184,22191,15006,15112,6454,1084,1083,1091,15098,71562,942,50,450,950,14081,12647,881,1183,1085,127283,29884,153171,63443,3972,22185,646,67,132,4280,68,11331,33306,2857,100241],"class_list":{"0":"post-431560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-alzheimers-disease","9":"tag-alzheimers","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-article-plus","12":"tag-centers","13":"tag-centers-for-disease-control","14":"tag-cnn","15":"tag-conditions","16":"tag-control","17":"tag-dementia","18":"tag-disease","19":"tag-diseases","20":"tag-for","21":"tag-foundations","22":"tag-graphics","23":"tag-health","24":"tag-health-foundations-u0026-medical-research","25":"tag-health-news","26":"tag-image","27":"tag-image-topper","28":"tag-immunizations","29":"tag-infectious","30":"tag-infectious-diseases","31":"tag-literature","32":"tag-medical","33":"tag-medical-literature-u0026-resources","34":"tag-neurological","35":"tag-neurological-conditions","36":"tag-neutral","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-overall","39":"tag-overall-neutral","40":"tag-plus","41":"tag-public","42":"tag-public-health","43":"tag-research","44":"tag-resources","45":"tag-shingles","46":"tag-skin","47":"tag-skin-conditions","48":"tag-stanford","49":"tag-stanford-university","50":"tag-topper","51":"tag-u0026","52":"tag-united-states","53":"tag-unitedstates","54":"tag-university","55":"tag-us","56":"tag-usat","57":"tag-usat-graphics","58":"tag-vaccines","59":"tag-vaccines-u0026-immunizations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}