Herpes Zoster More stroke and heart attack patient cases due to shingles

Herpes zoster increases the likelihood of stroke and heart attack
Infections with herpesviruses of the genus Varicella Zoster are relatively widespread. In a first infection, the viruses cause chickenpox. Subsequently, they remain inactive in the organism and can later lead to complaints again. It threatens the development of a shingles, also called herpes zoster. This shows up as a red, itchy rash and may be accompanied by unpleasant pain along the nerves. Two recent studies also conclude that herpes zoster disease significantly increases the likelihood of stroke and heart attack.

After a recent chickenpox disease, the varicella-zoster viruses are resting inactive in the cranial and spinal cord nerves. However, they can be reactivated and cause shingles. This usually happens when the immune system is weakened by other factors. What exactly causes the reactivation of the viruses remains unclear to this day. In addition to the known complications such as neuralgia or meningitis and spinal cord inflammation threatened in a shingles and life-threatening cardiovascular events such as a heart attack or stroke. In two recent studies, significantly increased risks of stroke and myocardial infarction were diagnosed in shingles. However, only in their active form do the viruses appear to favor cardiovascular damage.

Poorer health no explanation for the increased risk
The research team led by Barbara P. Yawn of Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester, has investigated possible associations between the incidence of stroke and heart attack from 4,862 adults with herpes zoster from Olmsted County, Minnesota. As a comparison group, they used the data of 19,433 people over the age of 50 without herpes zoster. The researchers found that people with herpes zoster had a significantly higher risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. This is at least partially due to their generally poorer health, explain the researchers in the journal "Mayo Clinic Proceedings".

Even after adjusting for this factor, there was a 53 percent higher risk of stroke and heart attack in the first three months after the onset of the disease. If the shingles lasted more than three months, according to Yawn and colleagues, this had no effect on the cardiovascular events.

After six months, the risk is back to normal
In the second study, scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine looked at 42,454 stroke patients and 24,237 heart attack patients over the age of 65 to see if there was an association between cardiovascular events and those suffering from shingles. "We observed a marked increase in acute cardiovascular events in the first week after the herpes zoster diagnosis"; Write Caroline Minassian and colleagues in the journal "PLOS Medicine". The likelihood of a stroke has increased by a factor of 2.4 and that of a heart attack by a factor of 1.7. According to the researchers, the risk was back to normal after six months.

An effect of the herpes zoster vaccine had not been established in terms of stroke and heart attack risk. "These findings expand our understanding of the timing and extent of association between herpes zoster and acute cardiovascular events," the researchers conclude. (Fp)