- With Mayo Clinic internist
James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
James Steckelberg, M.D.
Dr. James Steckelberg is chairman of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mayo Clinic, a consultant and a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School.
A native of Fremont, Neb., Dr. Steckelberg was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine as a resident in internal medicine and a fellow in infectious diseases, and is board certified in both. He is the former director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Steckelberg belongs to numerous professional organizations. He is a founding member of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society of America and a fellow with the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has served on many Mayo Clinic committees and is a member of the Department of Medicine Leadership Committee and the executive committee of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He also served on the editorial boards of "Mayo Clinic Proceedings" and "Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy" and has been an editorial reviewer for more than a dozen publications.
Dr. Steckelberg's research interests include experimental models of infection, epidemiology of infection, and antimicrobial resistance and therapy of bacterial infections.
Risk factors (1)
- Shingles vaccine: Can I transmit the vaccine virus to others?
Treatments and drugs (1)
- Shingles treatment: Does alcohol use interfere with shingles therapy?
Prevention (1)
- Shingles vaccine: Should I get it?
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Question
Shingles vaccine: Should I get it?
Who should get the shingles vaccine? If I've already had shingles, should I get the vaccine so I don't get shingles again?
Answer
from James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
Whether they've had shingles or not, adults age 60 and older should get the shingles vaccine (Zostavax), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The shingles vaccine is approved to protect your body from reactivation of a virus — the chickenpox (varicella-zoster) virus — that most people are exposed to during childhood. When you recover from chickenpox, the virus stays latent in your body. For unknown reasons, though, the latent virus sometimes gets reactivated years later, causing shingles. The shingles vaccine prevents this reactivation.
The shingles vaccine isn't fail-safe; some people develop shingles despite vaccination. Even when it fails to suppress the virus completely, however, the shingles vaccine may reduce the severity and duration of shingles. Although there's hope that the vaccine will reduce your risk of severe, lingering pain after shingles (postherpetic neuralgia), studies haven't yet found strong evidence of that effect.
The shingles vaccine is a live vaccine given as a single injection, usually in the upper arm. The most common side effects of the shingles vaccine are redness, pain, tenderness and swelling at the injection site, and headaches.
The shingles vaccine isn't recommended if you:
- Have ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to gelatin, the antibiotic neomycin or any other component of the shingles vaccine
- Have a weakened immune system due to HIV/AIDS, lymphoma or leukemia
- Are receiving immune system-suppressing drugs such as steroids, adalimumab (Humira), infliximab (Remicade), etanercept (Enbrel), radiation or chemotherapy
- Have active, untreated tuberculosis
- Are pregnant or trying to become pregnant
In some cases, the cost of the shingles vaccine may not be covered by Medicare or insurance. Check your plan. But if you're younger than age 60, hold off on the shingles vaccine until you reach that age. Children and adults who have not had chickenpox (primary varicella infection) should receive the chickenpox vaccine instead.
Next questionShingles vaccine: Can I transmit the vaccine virus to others?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention of herpes zoster: Recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP). MMWR Reviews and Reports. 2008;57(1). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5705a1.htm. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
- Zostavax questions and answers. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/QuestionsaboutVaccines/UCM070418. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
- Zostavax (prescribing information). Whitehouse Station, N.J.: Merck; 2009. http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/z/zostavax/zostavax_pi2.pdf. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
