Does Shingles Run in the Family?

It really looks as if shingles may run in families, according to a recent publication in the Archives of Dermatology. Suspicions were raised by findings that some people have more labile immunity, based on their genetic makeup. If they have a varicella zoster (chickenpox) virus lurking in their body somewhere, such persons could be more liable to develop shingles.

In a study done in Houston, Texas, 504 patients with shingles and 523 controls (patients with other skin conditions) were asked to recall if there were cases of shingles of a shingles-like illness in family members. The analyses showed that shingles patients were over 4 times as likely to report shingles episodes in relatives as controls were. Moreover, shingles patients were over 13 times as likely to report having more than one relative with shingles. This resembles a sort of ‘dose-dependent effect’, which supports the concept of a genetic increase in susceptibility.

This study can be criticized because ‘recall bias’ might have influenced the results to a greater or lesser extent, which can’t be assessed; shingles patients are probably far more likely than others to explore their families' history of skin disease. The investigators call for further studies to check this out (if that’s possible!). Meanwhile, a history of shingles in the family might well be a good reason to consider appropriate vaccination, which is both safe and effective. Or at least to take up Tai Chi.