0000000000235876
AUTHOR
Silvestro Scotti
Preventing and managing herpes zoster: key actions to foster healthy aging
Population aging is the demographic phenomenon characterizing all countries in the world, and it is challenging the national infrastructures, in particular health systems. However, aging itself is not associated with increased medical spending, but disability and comorbidity that affect older individuals are the actual drivers for health expenditures. Therefore, if people age in better health, medical spending may be significantly reduced. Preventative interventions proved to be effective in reducing/preventing disease and disability and often found to be cost effective, include diet and exercise interventions, medications, routine disease screenings, and immunizations. Vaccination can prot…
Reducing the burden of Herpes Zoster in Italy.
Herpes Zoster (HZ) is a viral disease with painful neuro-dermatologic manifestations. Incidence increases with age. In Italy, the estimated incidence is 6.3 cases/1000 person/year; hospital admissions are less than 2%, 69% in patients aged over 65 years. The most frequent complication of HZ is Post-Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) characterized by metameric pain, allodynia, and hyperalgesia. In Italy 20.6% and 9.2% of HZ patients experience PHN after 3 and 6 months, respectively. Available antiviral and analgesic treatments are relatively unsatisfactory in reducing pain and length of the disease. Prevention has recently become possible with the live attenuated vaccine Oka/Merck. Clinical studies sh…