Is "shingles" increasing due to corona sickness?
What is the relationship with symptoms and inoculation?
April 18, 18:20
I have a tingling, tingling pain and a band-shaped rash on my body.
It's throbbing and can get worse if left alone.
It is a banded rash.
Nowadays, there are voices pointing out that "the number of people who develop corona sickness is increasing", and there is growing interest in the relationship with corona vaccination on SNS.
Is it really increasing?
What is the relationship with vaccination?
(Network News Department Yasuyo Mabuchi Shie Kanazawa Tatsuro Imono)
Is it increasing due to corona damage?
The corona rash may be increasing the number of banded rashes.
There is such a voice on SNS.
"I got a banded rash because of my family, work, and stress in Corona."
"Dermatologists said that many people are coming to see me now."
Last month, I spoke to Mr. Hoshino (43 years old, female) who lives in Ibaraki prefecture and said he had developed a banded rash.
At 4:00 am on March 15, Mr. Hoshino woke up with severe pain under his armpit.
When she looked, she had three red rashes that had spread to about 3 centimeters.
She feels the pain of running electricity and can't move, let alone raise her hands.
I usually wake up four children sleeping in different rooms every morning.
However, I couldn't get out of the futon on that day, and shouted "Get up!"
Her husband and eldest daughter, who noticed her anomaly, did household chores such as preparing breakfast.
She immediately went to a dermatologist and was diagnosed with a "striped rash".
She took painkillers, but her malaise lasted for about a week.
Hoshino-san
, I don't remember because of so much pain ...
A banded rash that develops when the immune system is weakened due to fatigue, stress, or illness.
The only thing that came to my mind was the stress of raising children.
Just at the time when the corona infection was spreading in the area, the youngest child who attended the nursery school was closed voluntarily.
Mr. Hoshino
Elementary and junior high school children were also on spring holidays, but they couldn't go out and had to raise their children at home all the time.
In addition, I am working as a cram school teacher to invite my parents who live in Tokyo to help me, so I can't do that for infection control.
I couldn't change my mood by eating out.
I think that was the reason why I was stressed.
Some doctors feel that the number of patients with herpes zoster is increasing due to corona rash.
I am Dr. Hideyuki Ikaki, the director of the Dermatology Clinic in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Dr. Ikaki said, "Since statistics are not available, it is not possible to make numerical comparisons." It is said that it has not decreased even if it happens.
In addition, I feel that there are differences in the generations that develop the disease.
Dr. Hedgerow
Originally, it is said that there are many elderly people with herpes zoster, but one of the characteristics of corona rash is that the proportion of younger generation patients such as junior high and high school students and university students is increasing.
Many people say that they are stressed by the corona sickness when they tell the patient that the cause is a decrease in immunity.
Activities such as school and club activities are restricted among young people, and stress tends to accumulate, which may be the background.
What kind of disease is a banded rash?
We asked Atsushi Otsuka, a dermatologist and chief professor of the Department of Dermatology, Kinki University School of Medicine, what kind of disease is herpes zoster.
The following is the story of Professor Otsuka.
A tingling rash is followed by a band of rashes with small red blisters on either the right or left side of the body.
Rashes can be found all over the body, most often from the chest to the flanks.
It may also appear around the face and eyes.
[Cause]
The cause is the same virus as "chickenpox" that children often get.
Chickenpox usually heals in about a week, but even after recovery, the virus does not disappear from the body and remains in the body for decades or more.
When the immune system is weakened due to aging, fatigue, stress or illness, it appears on the surface of the body along the nerves and develops a banded rash.
[What kind of people have many onsets?
]
Many patients are over 50 years old, and the incidence increases as the population ages.
In addition, people with lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, people who are using drugs that suppress the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, and people who suffer from cancer have weakened immunity and develop herpes zoster. Is more likely to do.
What are the symptoms of suspected herpes zoster?
At first, you may feel a tingling, tingling, or tingling sensation.
It may be itchy.
In some cases, he feels pain and consults an orthopedic surgeon, and there are no abnormalities on the X-ray, and lumps appear later, indicating that he has a banded rash.
Early symptoms can be cured by taking medicine for about a week.
If left untreated, it will become more severe and have sequelae.
However, if left untreated, the pain will remain as a sequela, and in long cases it may last for half a year or more than a year.
In severe cases, the virus can spread to the brain and, in rare cases, cause viral meningitis or encephalitis.
In case of severe illness, treatment is intravenous drip, and it is necessary to administer the medicine three times a day.
Is it really increasing?
Is it increasing before the Corona disaster?
By the way, is the number of banded rashes really increasing due to the corona rash?
I asked the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare that although we are conducting a nationwide survey on "chickenpox" = chickenpox, there is no nationwide statistical data on the number of patients with herpes zoster.
On the other hand, when I looked it up, I found that there was data on herpes zoster in Miyazaki prefecture.
We asked Dr. Nozomu Toyama, a dermatologist in Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture, who is conducting the survey.
Since 1997, Dr. Toyama has been collecting patient data from medical institutions belonging to the Miyazaki Prefectural Dermatologist Association.
As a result, it is known that the number of patients was increasing year by year until 2019 of Corona's disaster.
In 1997, the number was 4243, but it has been increasing year by year, and in 2019 it was 6948, which is more than 1.6 times more than 20 years.
Regarding the reason for the increase, Dr. Toyama thinks that there are (1) "aging" and (2) "regular vaccination with varicella vaccine".
The contents of each are as follows.
(1) Aging
Chickenpox affects 85% of people by the age of 5, and in most cases it can be cured in about a week. It develops chickenpox.
People over the age of 50 make up 70% of all patients, and as the population ages, the number of patients will increase.
(2) Regular vaccination with
varicella vaccine It is known that in order to prevent varicella, it is actually better to touch the chickenpox virus to some extent to activate immunity.
This is called the "booster effect".
In Japan, regular vaccination with chickenpox vaccine began in October 2014, and the number of children who develop chickenpox is decreasing.
However, as a result, the chances of parents in their 20s to 40s getting a "booster effect" have decreased.
As a result, the number of patients in the child-rearing generation has increased in recent years.
On the other hand, according to a survey by Dr. Toyama, the number of patients in Miyazaki Prefecture has decreased slightly to 6853 in 2020 and 6469 in 2021 for the second consecutive year since the spread of corona infection.
I can't say for sure because I'm analyzing the reason why
Dr. Toyama started to decrease.
However, the situation of "aging" and "regular vaccination with varicella vaccine" does not change, so it is possible that the refraining from seeing a doctor at Corona was affected.
What is the relationship with the corona vaccine?
There are no clear statistics on the indication that "the number of patients with herpes zoster is increasing due to corona rash", and the data in Miyazaki Prefecture show that the number has decreased slightly and the effect of refraining from seeing a doctor may be considered.
On the other hand, there were also voices on SNS who wanted to know the relationship with the new coronavirus vaccine.
"The causal relationship is unknown, but there were people who had rashes after corona vaccination at the company."
"I heard that many people have rashes after vaccination."
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, herpes zoster is not currently included in the side reactions that occur after vaccination.
The instructions posted on the website also stated that there were reports of headaches, malaise, fever, and, in rare cases, thrombosis, etc. in the items related to adverse reactions overseas. However, there is no mention of herpes zoster.
Professor Otsuka of Kinki University School of Medicine also touched on overseas research data and said that the relationship is not clear.
Professor Otsuka
"In a Spanish paper, it was reported that about 10% of people who received the new coronavirus vaccine reactivated the virus that causes herpes zoster. However, herpes zoster is a secondary vaccine. I don't know if it's due to a reaction or if something happens to overlap. "
How can I prevent it?
I've looked at various data, but when I come to this point, I think the most important thing to know is "how can I prevent it?"
Especially for those who have experienced the onset once and know the pain and pain, future preventive measures are urgent.
There is voluntary vaccination for those over 50 years old who have a high incidence and preventive measures.
There are two types, one is "inactivated vaccine".
The other is the same "live vaccine" as the chickenpox vaccine that children inoculate.
All of these are done at dermatological medical institutions that diagnose and treat shingles, so please contact us.
Professor Otsuka
The most effective is the "inactivated vaccine".
"Inactivated vaccine" requires two inoculations, but the cost is as high as 20,000 yen per inoculation.
Since some local governments provide subsidies, it is recommended that you check whether the vaccine is available at your medical institution and also check the subsidies on the homepage of the local government.
On the other hand, I also asked about the prevention of people under the age of 50 who are not vaccinated.
Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be prevented by doing this, but since it is a disease that develops when the immune system is weakened, I think it is important to keep in mind the basic things such as living a regular life, sleeping and eating well. increase.
Early treatment if you develop a regular life
A rash is a very familiar illness.
Two of the four reporters and desks in the interview team had their own experience, and the other had experience with their families.
Of these, reporter Mabuchi had a banded rash on his right occipital region 10 years ago.
A lump on the back of his neck with a headache he had never felt before.
He immediately went to the general hospital, but the cause was unknown.
Two days later, he found a rash on the back of his neck and rushed to a dermatologist's clinic, where he was immediately prescribed a remedy, so the pain gradually disappeared and there were no sequelae.
He actually hurried to dermatology because he was listening to her mother, who had a herpes zoster a few months earlier.
In the case of her mother, she thought she was an insect bite and left her for about three weeks while enduring the pain, delaying her treatment.
As a result, the aftereffects of numbness still remain after more than 10 years.
Early treatment is a really important illness.
Now that the corona is terrible, we are unknowingly accumulating more stress than usual.
If you have a tingling pain and an unexplained rash on one side of your body ... suspect a banded rash.
But more important than that is a regular life with good food and sleep.
It is important to prevent any illness, but I think that there is no "secret measure" for maintaining good health, so I would like to review my own life first.