Each editor: Bi Luming
On the evening of June 28, during the "Singer 2024" competition, singer Na Ying only wore makeup on half of her face. host He Jiong explained to the audience, "Sister Na Ying (Na Ying) was wearing makeup two days ago. She was infected with shingles, which was very painful. She knew that it was okay yesterday, but it was a little serious this morning. She called me and said, 'It's so annoying. It doesn't grow on my back or arms, but on my face and in my eyes... …'.”
Picture source: Video screenshot
Subsequently, terms such as “Na Ying’s Eye Shingles” and “Na Ying’s Herpes Zoster” quickly became hot searches on Weibo.
Not long ago, Cai Guoqing, who was certified as a "singer" by Weibo, also suffered from herpes zoster due to reduced immunity. On June 14, he posted a long message on Weibo to bid farewell to the recording of "This is My Island".
What is “shingles” that has been frequently searched on Weibo recently? How painful is shingles? Is it contagious? How to deal with it? Is
contagious?
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, herpes zoster, also known as shingles and snakes, is an infectious skin disease caused by the chickenpox-zoster virus. The incubation period is long, and the older you are, the more likely you are to get sick. The condition is more serious. Statistics show that about one in three people will develop shingles in their lifetime. There are approximately 1.56 million new cases of herpes zoster among people over 40 years old in China every year.
Herpes zoster is often caused by weakened immunity. For example, staying up late, being stressed, or severe psychological trauma may all lead to the occurrence of herpes zoster.
According to media reports, Wang Xinyu, deputy director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, told reporters that herpes zoster can affect parts of the body with nerve distribution, so in addition to the neck, chest, back and other parts of the body, herpes zoster can also occur in areas such as the neck, chest, and back. Acute attack on face and eyes. Generally, infringement of the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve may be accompanied by conjunctivitis and keratitis; and if it occurs in the trigeminal nerve, it can cause severe migraine-like pain.
In addition, the acute phase of herpes zoster itself is accompanied by neuralgia. For some people, the pain can continue after the rash is cured, which is called long-term "posterior neuralgia". Some patients will experience it for decades. years of pain. Elderly and immunocompromised patients may have more severe rashes, longer disease duration, more severe pain, and are more likely to develop "posterior neuralgia", which affects sleep quality and daily routine, seriously affecting the patient's quality of life.
According to media reports, a clinical expert told reporters, "Data at home and abroad show that people over 50 years old are susceptible to herpes zoster. The older you are, the more likely you are to suffer from herpes zoster, and the condition will be more severe. In addition, people affected by emotions such as anxiety, Suffering from other diseases and long-term use of immunosuppressants can also reduce resistance, allowing the varicella-zoster virus to reactivate and cause herpes zoster. "
Age is the most important risk factor for herpes zoster. As age increases, the physiological metabolic functions and immune functions of various tissues and organs of the elderly gradually weaken, and they often suffer from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, and kidney diseases, and suffer from infectious diseases such as pneumonia, influenza, and influenza. The risk of herpes zoster is significantly increased. Compared with the general population, patients with chronic diseases have a 24% to 41% increased risk of contracting herpes zoster.
"Once infection occurs in people with chronic diseases, it may aggravate the original chronic diseases, lead to adverse clinical health outcomes or even increase the risk of death, and increase the consumption of medical resources. Taking diabetes as an example, after diabetic patients get herpes zoster, it becomes more difficult to control blood sugar. "The above-mentioned clinical experts said.
It is worth noting that Zheng Yongjun, director of the Pain Department of East China Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, once publicly reminded, "The season when you are prone to colds is actually the season when you are prone to herpes zoster. For example, the seasons change from winter to spring, and autumn to winter. The seasons change. When the immune function is at its lowest, it is also when shingles is more likely to occur. "
Is shingles contagious? The official website of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission once issued an article stating that “(Chickenpox and shingles) are both caused by the same virus, so they are contagious.However, shingles is much less contagious than chickenpox, which is transmitted through the respiratory tract and blisters. It is usually transmitted through repeated contact with the blister fluid in the blister, because the blister fluid contains the virus. Under normal circumstances, children with low immunity will become infected after contact, but this chance is relatively low. Most adults have strong immunity, so they are less susceptible to infection even if they are exposed. "
Peking Union Medical College Hospital also issued a document showing that, generally speaking, compared with chickenpox, vzv (varicella-zoster virus) in people with shingles is much less contagious, but it is still contagious (the virus is transmitted through droplets or Transmitted by contact with skin lesions). Skin lesions are also contagious before scabbing.
How to effectively prevent?
According to the guidelines, if there are indications for shingles vaccination, such as those with normal immune function and those aged ≥50 years old. People aged ≥19 years with compromised immune function who are at increased risk of herpes zoster should be vaccinated regardless of whether they have a history of herpes zoster infection.
Global clinical study results show that the imported recombinant herpes zoster vaccine is effective for people aged 50 and above and 70 years old. The protective efficacy against herpes zoster in adults aged 10 years and above is 97.2% and 91.3% respectively. The recombinant herpes zoster vaccine currently on the market in China is a product of GlaxoSmithKline (gsk). In addition, the domestically produced 100-gram biological herpes zoster vaccine is available. Clinical trials of live virus vaccines show that the protection rate is 70% among specific people aged 40 to 70 years old, and the protection rate for people aged 40 and above is close to 60%.
Wang Xinyu said that vaccination is still recommended for elderly people who have had herpes zoster. Vaccine, because herpes zoster disease may recur, vaccination is mainly to reduce the occurrence of post-herpetic neuralgia. Studies have found that the cumulative recurrence rate of herpes zoster in 10 years exceeds 10%, and the older you are, the better your immunity. The lower the risk, the higher the likelihood of recurrence.
According to previous reports by the Daily Economic News, according to the investor relations activity record sheet released by Baike Biotech in September last year, since herpes zoster is very likely to relapse when the body's immunity is low, it is recommended that The vaccination against herpes zoster was strengthened around 5 years ago. At that time, the company did not fully publish the protective efficacy data of "Shenwei". It only stated that the protective efficacy of the vaccine was equivalent to that of products with the same technical route.
Since there are currently only 3 shingles vaccines on the market in the world, The "products with the same technical route" mentioned by Beike Biotech refer to Merck's herpes zoster vaccine zostavax, which was approved for marketing in the United States in May 2006. The effectiveness of zostavax in the elderly group aged 50-59 is 69.8%. The protection rate of "Shenwei" may also be around 70%, which is about 20 percentage points lower than that of GSK's recombinant protein vaccine.
In the international market, due to the significant improvement in the protection rate of Xinanlishi, it has gradually replaced Zostavax. This has also created the best-selling myth of Xin'anlishi with global sales exceeding US$3.6 billion in 2022. In the grassroots hospital where He Li works, although many vaccinators did not choose Xin'anlishi because of the high price, some consultants believed that "it feels good." "Wei" protection rate is not ideal, so they give up the shingles vaccine. They said that if spending one thousand yuan to get the shingles vaccine can not guarantee that they will not get shingles, then this vaccine is not worth it.
Perhaps seeing this vast "middle market", the number of entrants to domestically produced shingles vaccines is still increasing. There are also many domestic vaccine companies including Wantai Biotech, Watson Biotech, Green Bamboo Biotech, etc. that are developing herpes zoster vaccines with different technical routes. Most of these vaccines under development are recombinant herpes zoster vaccines (CHO cells). In theory, it can achieve higher protection efficiency, aiming to benchmark or surpass Xin'an Lishi and attract the elderly who value cost-effectiveness more.
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