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Family history may increase vulnerability to shingles

Infection Control Monitor, May 23, 2008

People with a family history of shingles may have an increased susceptibility to the disease, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston compared 504 people treated for shingles between 1992 and 2005 to 523 people without shingles. A significantly higher proportion of those with shingles reported a family history of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, the study authors said. Risk increased with multiple blood relatives with a history of zoster. The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

Shingles causes nerve pain that occurs when the chickenpox virus (varicella zoster) is reactivated in spinal nerves. Most adults carry the virus, but only 10-30% develop shingles.

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