RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
There is a way to prevent shingles, though as NPR's Richard Knox reports, relatively few people have taken advantage of it.
RICHARD KNOX: When Julie Fair first got shingles, she and her doctor thought it was a pulled muscle in her back. Then three days later, an angry, red rash began to spread.
JULIE FAIR: It started in one specific spot on my back, and then wrapped around, as if a large hand were wrapping around my side.
KNOX: Soon, she was gripped by incredible pain.
FAIR: If the bedding at night moved over me, I would just scream. I mean, it was excruciating. Taking a shower was painful. Really, really the most extreme pain I've ever had.
KNOX: More than childbirth.
FAIR: Yes. More than childbirth, because it just was constant.
KNOX: The good news is there's a vaccine against shingles. It's been available for four years.
RAFAEL HARPAZ: This vaccine can prevent life-shattering disease.
KNOX: Bottom line: The vaccine prevents shingles 55 percent of the time. It's even better at preventing the most severe cases.
HARPAZ: If you look at preventing something like six months worth of severe pain, it's over 70 percent effective.
KNOX: To figure out why, I went to see Dr. Richard Dupee. He's a geriatrics specialist at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
RICHARD DUPEE: The recommendation is for everybody over the age of 60 to get a shot.
KNOX: Have you had one?
DUPEE: No.
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KNOX: First, there have been repeated shortages. Merck, the vaccine's maker, says it can't make enough.
DUPEE: So we have not given a shingles vaccination here for about a week.
KNOX: Hmm. You just can't get it.
DUPEE: Can't get it.
KNOX: Another problem is the vaccine, called Zostavax, needs to be kept frozen. Most doctors don't have freezers in their offices, so they send patients to drug stores.
DUPEE: Most pharmacies don't have enough freezer space to handle the volume of Zostavax that we would need. So they order it, freeze it, the patient picks it up, comes in here, and we give them the shot.
KNOX: Perhaps the biggest roadblock is that people just don't take shingles very seriously until they've had it.
DUPEE: We're not aggressive enough, and the patients are not aggressive enough. But if you've seen a case, one case, you become a believer.
KNOX: I'll get my shot.
DUPEE: Yeah. Me, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KNOX: You promise?
DUPEE: I will.
KNOX: One more thing: Julie Fair, who suffered so much five years ago, wants to know if she should get the vaccine, even those she's already had shingles.
FAIR: I want to be sure, because I really don't want to go through an episode like this.
KNOX: Richard Knox, NPR News.
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