AILSA CHANG, HOST:
New research shows that the vaccine for shingles may also help slow down the aging process. About a third of Americans get shingles, as Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Shingles is a reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox. That virus lies dormant in our bodies for years after we have chickenpox. It lurks in the root of a nerve. Dr. Maria Carney directs the Northwell Aging Institute on Long Island. She says when the virus pops up again, it inflames that nerve.
MARIA CARNEY: And then it comes out through the nerve and then breaks through the skin and you get blisters and itching and burning, and it can be very, very painful.
MILNE-TYTE: Shingles usually hits us when we're over 50 and our immune systems are weakening, but stress can cause it to flare up at younger ages. Chad Bernhard was in his 30s when he got it. He first noticed a rash.
CHAD BERNHARD: It was all along my left side from, like, in my armpit down to around my obliques.
MILNE-TYTE: And around his back. He says the itching quickly turned into a sharp stabbing pain.
BERNHARD: Kind of like the whole side of your body was being stung by hornets continuously.
MILNE-TYTE: There is a vaccine, Shingrix, that's recommended for people over 50. And the vaccine may do more than prevent shingles. Eileen Crimmins is a professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California.
EILEEN CRIMMINS: The shot seems to have this wider benefit of basically helping control aging.
MILNE-TYTE: Crimmins co-authored a recent study that showed slower biological aging in those who had received the shingles vaccine compared to those who hadn't, including less inflammation.
CRIMMINS: And a lot of people think inflammation is one of the very most basic mechanisms of aging, that it occurs both in response to getting various diseases and causes various diseases.
MILNE-TYTE: So she says less of it is a good thing. Though the study can't prove cause and effect, she's excited to investigate further. Dr. Maria Carney says while vaccination is the best option, if you do end up with shingles, there's an antiviral drug to help with the pain and blistering.
CARNEY: You really want to get it within the first few days of the outbreak. The sooner you can get it, as soon as that nerve is starting to be activated, the better.
MILNE-TYTE: But a lot of people don't recognize shingles when it starts. Five years ago, Alison Meadow, a college professor in Arizona, went for a run, fell and scraped her knee.
ALISON MEADOW: Within a day or so, I noticed this hurts more than just a regular scrape. Like, wow, this really hurts. I thought, oh, I must have tweaked something. And it still took a couple of days before I got any kind of rash.
MILNE-TYTE: Her doctor diagnosed shingles but said it might be too late for the antiviral to be fully effective. Meadow, an athlete who was 47 at the time, says the nerve pain in her leg has never left. It's changed her life.
MEADOW: I went for quite some time over these last five years where even just taking the dog for a walk in the neighborhood was hard. It would hurt. I would be exhausted.
MILNE-TYTE: She's trying a new medication that's helping to manage the pain, and she urges everyone she knows over 50 to get vaccinated. For NPR News, I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte.
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