Shingles Vaccine May Actually Slow Down Dementia, Study Finds

Shingles vaccine may actually slow down dementia, study finds

By Richard Sima The Washington Post A common vaccine meant to ward off shingles may be doing something even more extraordinary: protecting the brain. Earlier this year, researchers reported that the shingles vaccine cuts the risk of developing dementia by 20 percent over a seven-year period. A large follow-up study has found that shingles vaccination may protect against risks at different stages of dementia — including for people already diagnos…

Shingles vaccine may help prevent and slow dementia, study finds

Image via Cardiff University A new international study involving a Welsh university has found that the shingles (herpes zoster) vaccine may not only help prevent dementia but could also slow its progression. Researchers from Cardiff University, Stanford University, and Heidelberg Institute of Global Health examined electronic health records from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. They found that people who were eligible f…

Shingles Vaccination Correlates with Reduced Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Vaccination for the herpes zoster virus that causes shingles is generally done after age 50. Evidence from widely used vaccines suggests that many forms of vaccination produce long-term trained immunity effects, which include increased resistance to unrelated pathogens, and a reduction in innate immune system inflammatory signaling in older individuals. Insofar as vaccination is connected with reduced incidence of an inflammatory disease, this m…