PASADENA, Calif., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- People who have
had an episode of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, face a
relatively low short-term risk of developing shingles again,
according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study
published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. These
findings suggest that among people with immune systems that have
not been compromised, the risk of a second shingles episode is
low. Researchers reviewed electronic health records and
monitored recurrence of shingles for more than 6,000
individuals. They found fewer than 30 cases of recurrent
shingles in an average of two years of follow-up and little
difference in the rate of recurrence between the vaccinated and
unvaccinated population. "This study's findings are important
because we found that the risk of having a recurrent shingles
episode is not as high as previous research indicates," said
Hung Fu Tseng, PhD, MPH, study lead author with the Kaiser
Permanente Southern California Department of Research