Herpes Zoster, or S.Antonio’s fire significantly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, especially in the weeks following the infection. An international study highlights it.
At first it seems only an annoying eruption, which is easily confused with a sunburn or with an erythema, perhaps due to a food allergy. But then things change: it becomes A pain burning along the chest or faceor the legs, followed by vesicles and redness that recall an infantile disease never really disappeared: chickenpox. Nevertheless, Herpes Zoster – also known as “Sant’Antonio fire” – It is much more than a virological relapse of childhood. Clinical studies conducted in recent years are revealing a worrying link between this viral infection and one of the main causes of death in the world, namely The myocardial infarction. This is not just an occasional correlation. The data speak of a risk increased significantly In the days and weeks that follow the appearance of the virus, and to undergo the most serious consequences are precisely heart and brain. The possibility of an acute infarction or a brain stroke, after an episode of Herpes Zoster, can grow exponentially, By transforming a disease commonly considered annoying, but benign, into a true alarm for public health.
This is demonstrated by an important epidemiological study conducted by a US research group led by scientists of Brigham and Women’s Hospitalin collaboration with the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Research of the Olimsted Medical Center. The results leave no room for doubt: those who contract Herpes Zoster have a significantly increased risk of incurring a heart attack or stroke in the months following the infection. An association that emerges strongly even in the absence of previous cardiovascular problems. The study, coordinated by Professor Sharon G. Curhan, Professor at the Department of Medicine of the University Hospital of Massachusetts, he was based on the analysis of three great epidemiological cohorts: the Nurses’ Health StudyThe Nurses’ Health Study II and theHealth Professionals Follow-up Study. In total, the data of Over 200 thousand men and womencarefully selected for not having a clinical history of stroke or coronary heart disease at the entrance to the study. The observation period was long: the participants were followed for a maximum of 16 years through biennial questionnaires, validated through the revision of medical records.
The analysis highlighted an alarming data: the Herpes Zoster infection is associated with a higher risk of developing greater cardiovascular events, such as iNfaria of the myocardium and brain stroke. In particular, the risk is more marked in the first year following the infectious episode, but remains higher than the average even in the following years. The report, according to researchers, appears solid even after corrected numerous risk factors such as smoke, hypertension, diabetes, body mass index and life habits. The results were published on Journal of the American Heart Association And they confirm what has already emerged from previous studies, but with a statistical force and a methodology so far unpublished.
Already several years ago, in a large analysis published on Plos MedicinAnd It was observed that the risk of myocardial infarction it increased up to 68% in the first week after the appearance of the symptoms of the zoster. Another study, conducted on beyond Two million American patients over 50he had confirmed that cardiovascular danger remains significantly higher in the thirty days following the diagnosis of Herpes Zoster. This is also because the chickenpox-zoster virus, once reactivated, does not limit itself to attacking nerve endings, but also triggers one inflammatory storm that can also involve the vascular system. The arteries, especially those already made more fragile by atherosclerotic plates, become vulnerable targets. The virus is able to penetrate the vascular walls, to cause one infectious vasculitis and to destabilize the patient’s hemodynamic balance. Attention: the risk is not limited to elderly patients or with evident comorbidity: even apparently healthy people, but never vaccinated or never exposed significantly to the virus, they can undergo the consequences of the reactivated infection. The effect is amplified in Immunocompromessi subjectsin diabetics and patients with previous heart problems, but no category seems completely excluded from danger. The implications of these data are profound. First of all, they force us to reconsider the way Herpes Zoster is perceived in clinical practice, that is, no longer a simple dermatological disorder, but A systemic condition that also deserves attention in cardiological perspective. And in this context, Vaccination takes on a central role. Vaccines available-in particular the recombinants recommended in many countries for over 50, in Italy they are offered for free over 65 years of age and for all over 18 if affected by high risk conditions such as oncological or immuno-depression diseases-not only drastically reduce the incidence of herpes zoster, but could help prevent serious cardiovascular events associated with viral reactivation. And this, in terms of public health, can really make a difference. In our country the vaccine used is the recombinant adjuvant one, which does not contain attenuated virus virus, and is administered in two doses after two to six months. Has anEffective efficacy of 90 percent In the prevention of Herpes Zoster and its complications, in particular post-erpetic neuralgia, and maintains high protection for at least ten years: in Italy, it is estimated that in the last two years more than 300,000 cases have occurred.
