带状疱疹能够被预防吗？日前，公布的研究报告回答了该问题，该报告披露“2006年问世的带状疱疹疫苗（Shingles vaccine），经近20万50岁或年龄更大的人们试用，未能发现伴发严重的并发症，及增加心脑血管病、脑膜炎等疾病的发生率，故被认为可安全应用于临床。”

由于带状疱疹多见于免疫力有所降低的老年人，故美国疾病预防与控制中心已正式将该疫苗推荐给健康、且年龄达到或大于60岁的老年人接种，以预防带状疱疹的发生。

Shingles Vaccine Safe, Underutilized, Study Says

CDC recommends it for people 60 and older

MONDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- The shingles vaccine is generally safe and well tolerated by patients, according to a new study.

Shingles, which affects more than 1 million people each year in the United States, is a painful contagious rash caused by the dormant chickenpox virus, which can reactivate and replicate, damaging the nervous system.

Elderly people are especially at risk because immunity against the virus that causes shingles declines with age.

In this study, researchers looked at data from more than 193,000 adults 50 and older who received the shingles vaccine, also known as the herpes zoster vaccine, over two years. There was a small increased risk of local reactions (redness and pain) from one to seven days after vaccination. This finding matches the results of clinical trials.

The shingles vaccine did not increase the risk for cerebrovascular diseases; cardiovascular diseases; meningitis, encephalitis, and encephalopathy; Ramsay-Hunt syndrome; or Bell's palsy, the researchers said.

The study was published online April 23 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

The study supports the vaccination recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices "and reassures the general public that the vaccine is safe," study author Hung Fu Tseng, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif., said in a Kaiser news release.

Few people received the vaccine, which was licensed in 2006, the news release said. The CDC recommends it for healthy people aged 60 and older.

SOURCE: Kaiser Permanente, news release, April 23, 2012