Blacks least likely to get shingles protection, according to study
11th January 2016 · 0 Comments
By Carolyn Guniss
Contributing Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (Special from Miami Times and New America Media) — Florida Atlantic University (FAU) researchers have found that even though shingles is a debilitatingly painful virus, many black seniors do not get a vaccine to prevent it.
Researchers Deborah Elkins and Ruth M. Tappen presented findings from their study, “Ethnic Disparities in Shingles Vaccination in Community Dwelling Older Adults in South Florida,” at the Gerontological Society of America’s 68th Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando last month.
What Is Shingles?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox in childhood. If you’ve had chickenpox, you are at risk of getting shingles as an adult, but the symptoms can be for more acute.
Every three people age 60 or older will get shingles, CDC data show.
Shingles is very painful, and there is no treatment or cure for the pain. By age 85, it is estimated that about half of all people would have had at least one episode of shingles. About 1 million cases of shingles happen in the United States each year.
CDC points out that as people get older they are more likely to develop long-term pain as a complication of shingles and the pain is likely to be more severe. Shingles may also lead to serious complications involving the eyes. Very rarely, shingles can also lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation (encephalitis) or death.
According to the CDC website, the shingles rash often forms blisters on the torso and sometimes on the face. The blisters usually scab over in seven-to-10 days and take two-to-four weeks to clear up. But, says CDC, “For some people the pain can last for months or even years after the rash goes away.”
Recommended for Those 60-Plus
The vaccine to prevent shingles is called Zostavax, and it has been available since 2006. It is recommended that all people age 60 or older — who qualify — should receive the vaccine. In 2012, pharmacists at clinics have been permitted to administer the drug.
So far in the U.S., only 16 percent of eligible people to get a shingles vaccine has done so.
According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), shingles is not contagious, but exposure to people with chicken pox should be avoided.
“You can’t catch it from someone. But, you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles. So, if you’ve never had chickenpox, try to stay away from anyone who has shingles. If you have shingles, try to stay away from anyone who has not had chickenpox or who might have a weak immune system,” writes NIA, which also includes authoritative information in Spanish.
As part of the Healthy Aging Research Initiative, the researchers accumulated a sample of more than 600 ethnically diverse South Floridians.
Cost Barrier for Some
The FAU researchers found that of the 102 African Americans in the study, only six had received the shingles vaccine. Afro-Caribbeans fared a fit better. Of the 129 in the sample, 20 of them had taken the shingles vaccine.
Overall, of the 614 seniors in the study, 14 percent had received the shingles vaccination. Individuals on Medicaid were more likely not to have received the shingles vaccination.
“More reach is needed to understand what the ethnic disparities mean,” said Elkins. But the study results imply that policies by insurance companies may be a barrier. The vaccine can cost as much as $250.
Max B. Rothman, president of the Alliance on Aging, which serves Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, said he is not surprised by the study’s findings.
“Adult vaccination in general is low and critical vaccines like the flu vaccine are not taken as much as they should,” Rothman said. “And I would say that it would be much lower for African Americans.”
Carolyn Guniss wrote this article for the Miami Times with support from the Journalists in Aging Fellowships, a program of New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, sponsored by the Silver Century Foundation.
This article originally published in the January 11, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
