Shingles Vaccine

Zostavax, as the vaccine is called, was approved in 2006, based on the results of clinical trials. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the shot for eligible people aged 60 and older.

Tseng’s team wanted to test the vaccine’s real-world performance, so they compared 75,761 vaccinated members of the Kaiser Permanente health plan to 227,283 members who elected not to have the shot. Kaiser funded the study.

In vaccinated individuals, the rate of shingles was 6.4 cases per 1,000 people in a year while it was twice that — 13 per 1,000 — in the unvaccinated population, the investigators found.

The vaccine also reduced the risk of ophthalmic herpes zoster (infection that affects the eye) by 63 percent and hospitalization by 65 percent.

 

Because shingles is not contagious and doesn’t present a risk of death, [Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an attending physician in infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.] said he would recommend the flu vaccine and the pneumococcal vaccine over this one for uninsured patients who would have to pay out-of-pocket.

“This study helps me in terms of advising patients and prioritizing,” Hirsch added.

 

 

While less reliable than some childhood vaccines, which are usually 90 percent effective in preventing certain illnesses, the shingles vaccination is still worthwhile, said Dr. Ciro Sumaya, professor of health policy and management at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health.

For now, he advises getting it. “It’s protecting against a severe disease, particularly in elderly adults,” he said, “so the benefit, I think, is overwhelming that we should be using this because it’s recommended.”

Read More http://www.ivillage.com/shingles-vaccine-looks-safe-bet-seniors-study/4-a-313247#ixzz1ArX9so45 

 

I think you all know where I stand on this vaccination. If you can possibly get it, do so. I think it should be covered by insurance companies, because the effects of shingles can be severe and disabling. It’s accurate to say that shingles won’t kill you while the flu or pneumonia could, but that ignores the possibility of long-term pain, or even blindness in the case of opthalmic herpes zoster. 

 Always consult your doctor before making any health decisions.

Check out my previous post on shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia here.

Geek Two Point Oh: Microsoft OneNote

I am so not a hardware person. I’m happy with a laptop and wifi, and I adore my TiVo, but I pretty much depend on other people to invent and manufacture cool and easy-to-use hardware that I can purchase and have delivered to my door. (Like my new BFF, my Antec laptop cooling pad.) Software, web programs, those things I love. (Let’s face it, if it makes me say “nifty” then I’m in. Since lately I’ve been working very hard to set up a professional presence online I’ve also been thinking about how I interact with the internet and the world. You know, software-wise. *g*

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For schoolwork (and writing) I use Microsoft Office. My college offers a discount on Office Professional Suite so I gave in and embraced Office 2007. These days Word can do what I want it to do, Powerpoint is useful and super-easy, and Excel remains a great piece of software. I run a casual football pool using an Excel notebook, use another one to play Packrat, and yet another to track date for my taxes.

OneNote is the absolute best thing out there:

Geek Two Point Oh: Flock

I read an article recently (maybe on Mashable) that said Internet Explorer is slowly going extinct. Users are steadily down each year and someday there won’t be enough to sustain it. That made me chuckle when this week’s automatic Windows update included a new version of IE that I ignored. School is pretty big on using Safari on their Macs and Firefox on Windows machines, and for years I used Firefox at home. Now I’m devoted to Flock.

I take my laptop everywhere, I use it at home, school, and work. Flock–and its features–is perfect for that. It’s built on the Mozilla open source browser, so all the awesome things Firefox gives you Flock has, too. And more. The great thing about Flock is that so many things are built-in. You don’t just use Flock to access the internet, you use Flock to bring the internet to you and to interact with it in the way you want. (They call it a “social web browser.”) Everything is entwined, everything works together smoothly. Most of the Firefox add-ons are compatible with Flock, which means the very essential Ad Block Plus is available. I recommend the Open ID add-on which gives you the option to store any/all of your Open IDs for ease of use.