Doctors are urging people heading into their golden years to get the shingles vaccine to protect themselves from a virus left behind from the chickenpox they likely had as a child.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost one out of every three people in the United States will develop shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, in his lifetime.

“For anyone who had chickenpox it goes to sleep in the nerve root along side the spine and it could wake up at any time,” said Dr. Rashmi Goyal, internal medicine physician at the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio. If the shingles virus activates, it can be very painful.

Sufferers have to cope with large blisters on their body and sometimes prolonged nerve pain, said Dr. Tanya Baldwin, a physician with Mercy Family Practice in Oregon.

Some 90 percent of the population is at risk because they have been exposed to chickenpox, Dr. Baldwin said.

The shingles vaccine is recommended for everyone over the age of 60 but is most effective in those between the ages of 60 to 70, Dr. Goyal said. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the shingles vaccine for people ages 50 years and older, but the CDC does not have a recommendation for routine use of the vaccine in people younger than 60.

Everyone over the age of 60 should be vaccinated but since the virus is already dormant in the body the vaccine only reduces the likelihood of a shingles outbreak by 50 to 60 percent.

The vaccine, she said, however, often helps reduce the severity of the symptoms in those who do contract the virus.

A shingles outbreak can be preceded by vague symptoms like tiredness.

“It can also be accompanied by a weird skin sensation “like when your foot goes to sleep,” Dr. Goyal said.

“But it’s hard for doctors to diagnose it until the rash comes out. It looks like raised blisters,” she said.

There is also a burning, tingling, and itching sensation on one side of the body. “It doesn’t cross the midline of the body,” Dr. Baldwin said. The rash can appear on any part of the body but the most common areas are the trunk, the back, and on the arms, she added.

What is even worse, the pain caused by shingles can last for weeks after the rash heals. In severe cases, the pain can last for months or years, Dr. Baldwin said.

“It [the pain] can be constant,” she said.

According to the CDC, those at greatest risk of getting shingles are people who have compromised immune systems and those who received immunosuppressive drugs such as steroids and drugs given after organ transplants.

“All of us as individuals tend to not realize that stress is a huge immunosuppressive on our body. You can be very healthy but stress can compromise our immune system,” Dr Goyal said.

Even those who have had shingles once can benefit from the vaccine. People can have a second or even a third episode, according to the CDC.

“Everyone’s immune system is different. You can’t predict when you are going to be exposed,” Dr. Goyal said.

The shingles virus is not like the cold or the flu. It is not easily spread to others but it can pass to another person while the virus is active by skin to skin contact with a lesion, Dr. Baldwin said.

“The biggest question I get from patients is can I babysit my grandkids. Should I be careful. What I recommend is that they should not be in contact with young children who have not been vaccinated,” Dr. Goyal said.

The chickenpox vaccine, which has been available in the United States since 1995, is included in the group of childhood immunizations that most children receive. In theory, since those kids should be protected from developing chicken pox, they should not be at risk for shingles later in life, she said.

The CDC does recommend that a certain group of people avoid the shingles vaccine including: those who have had a severe allergic reaction to any component of shingles vaccine, people with weakened immune systems due to HIV/​AIDS or cancer treatments and women who are or might be pregnant.

Contact Marlene Harris-Taylor at mtaylor@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.

First Published April 27, 2015, 4:00 a.m.