The risk of developing herpes zoster appears to be associated with a family history of the disorder, according to case-control study findings.
If further studies confirm this link, people whose family histories put them at risk can be targeted for vaccination, according to Lindsey D. Hicks, a medical student at the University of Texas at Houston.
Ms. Hicks and her associates conducted a case-control analysis involving 504 patients treated between 1992 and 2005 and 523 well-matched control subjects who never had herpes zoster. Nearly equal proportions of cases and controls (76%) recalled having had primary infection with varicella-zoster virus.
Case patients were about four times more likely than control subjects were to report having a first-degree relative with a history of herpes zoster, and they were only slightly less likely to report having a more distant blood relative with a history of the disorder.
The risk of developing herpes zoster rose in a dose-dependent fashion as the number of affected relatives increased. “An odds ratio of 4.5 was calculated for [patients] reporting single [affected] relatives, and an odds ratio of 13.7 was calculated for those reporting multiple [affected] relatives,” Ms. Hicks and her associates wrote (Arch. Dermatol. 2008;144:603-8).
“Our study indicates the possibility of inherited susceptibility to herpes zoster and indicates that further studies into this area may be necessary in order to recognize and vaccinate susceptible individuals,” the researchers said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently advised that all individuals aged 60 years and older receive the herpes zoster vaccine to prevent the development of shingles.