the good doctor on: What does Vaccination have to do with Eyes?
Blog #18, What does vaccination
have to do with eyes?
It was April 1955 when the first Salk vaccines were administered and “The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis” became history. Sadly, the vaccine actually worked too well, because we don’t even give a thought to this once devastating condition. Vaccination remains the best and least intrusive means of preventing disease. No wonder laboratories all over the globe are working night and day to come up with one for Covid 19. In this blog, I would like to discuss prevention of another nasty disease, which in 25 % of cases can affect the eyes- shingles.
Herpes zosteris the culprit, the virus that causes chicken pox in children. This virus, after the chicken pox, remains in the body residing near the spinal column. It remains dormant until a person is exposed to undue stress, then the virus rides along the body’s nerve fibres causing long-standing neuralgia (pain) and in some cases, eye pain. Treatment within the first 72 hours with an oral antiviral agent, helps to stop the attack, but the neuralgia often persists long after. The virus can cause chronic eye pain, glaucoma and even permanent vision loss. This is serious stuff. The first thing to mention is that there is a zoster (chicken pox) vaccine for children that OHIP covers, so get your child vaccinated. No chicken pox, no shingles. This link appears to be effective with the vaccine, zoster vaccine, no shingles.
I have seen far too many patients with shingles, and again at this point it is preventable. For all of you who had chicken pox as a child, the answer is vaccination, with the latest, Shingrix, able to prevent shingles by a rate of 90-97% in people 50 years of age and older and by a rate of 89.1% in 80 year olds. Since it not a live vaccine it can be given to immunocompromised patients. The Shingrix vaccineis given intramuscularly, in two doses two to six months apart.
The doctors and staff at our office are making a big push to educate and ensure that all our patients get their shots. So the word for today, talk to your GP or pharmacist and get your shots. Let’s see if we can make shingles history like infantile paralysis.
Til next week,
The Good Doctor, Dr. Mark Germain, Burlington Optometrist
