Shingles vaccination reduces the risk of dementia drastically – FOCUS online

According to the latest estimates, around 1.8 million people live with dementia in Germany. Most of them are affected by Alzheimer’s. Research on this is in full swing because the exact causes of the incurable disease have not yet been conclusively clarified. Recently, there has been increasing evidence that herpes viruses may promote dementia.

Scientists from Stanford University and the Universities of Heidelberg, Mainz and Vienna have now examined the causal connection between a shingles vaccination and dementia.

Wales served them as the ideal research ground for this. There, the authorization for a shingles vaccination (Zostavax) was made dependent on the date of birth. Anyone born before September 2, 1933 was not entitled to a vaccination and was barred from it for the rest of their lives. Anyone born after September 2, 1933, on the other hand, was entitled to be vaccinated.

Shingles vaccination reduced the likelihood of dementia by almost 20 percent

For their study, the researchers evaluated nationwide data on vaccinations, doctor visits and death certificates. This initially accounted for a test population of over 290,000 people (all Welsh people with health insurance, which corresponds to 98 percent of the population). People with a dementia diagnosis were just excluded. Thus, the data of 282,541 individuals could still be examined.

Their result: A shingles vaccination reduced the probability of a dementia diagnosis by 19.9 percent in the following seven years. Further analysis showed that the protective effect of the vaccine was significantly stronger in women than in men.

“Our results strongly suggest that the varicella-zoster virus plays an important role in the development of dementia,” the researchers conclude.

Restriction: This study is a so-called preprint study. This means it has not yet been reviewed by peers. A study can only be published after this so-called peer review and the incorporation or refutation of the criticism noted.

Herpes viruses increase the risk of Alzheimer’s

In the meantime, however, several studies indicate that there could be a connection between herpes viruses and Alzheimer’s. In addition to the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which causes chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (herpes zoster), the herpes simplex virus (HSV) also plays a role, causing cold sores (HSV-1) and genital herpes (HSV- 2) triggers.

High densities of these viruses have been detected in the amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers in Taiwan found in an epidemiological study that an infection with herpes significantly increases the risk of later developing Alzheimer’s disease.

A study by Tufts University also showed that herpes viruses can lead to the increased formation of neurotransmitters and protein deposits in the brain that are typical of Alzheimer’s.

Viral double whammy: When the viral pathogens of both diseases – the herpes simplex virus and the varicella zoster virus – come together in the brain, this can also trigger the formation of Alzheimer’s-typical protein plaques, as a US study found out.

Shingles vaccination can protect

Vaccination seems to have a protective effect. Protection is particularly important in old age. Due to the weakening immune system, people over the age of 60 are particularly at risk.

The Standing Vaccination Committee (Stiko) recommends a shingles vaccination

• all persons over 60 years of age
• All people over the age of 50 whose immune system is weakened, for example by illness, after a bone marrow or organ transplant, or is suppressed by therapy
• as well as all persons from the age of 50 with a serious underlying disease of the lungs, kidneys or intestines etc.

However, since younger people are more often affected by shingles, whether due to stress or as a result of a serious infectious disease, many experts generally recommend vaccination from the age of 50 and especially in the case of a weakened immune system.