Rash decision

A serious Covid infection leaves us more vulnerable to shingles, and few people qualify for a funded vaccine for the painful virus.

- Nicky Pellegrino

Aucklander Victoria Elmes had a fairly typical Covid-19 infection, with flu-like symptoms and fatigue. She was recovering from the virus when she spotted a small bump on the side of her face that, at first, she assumed was only a pimple.

"Then I had these awful shooting, stabbing pains in my head," she says. "They were like nothing I'd ever experienced before."

Elmes, 50, saw a doctor as quickly as possible and was surprised to be diagnosed with shingles.

Shingles is a painful blistering rash that develops on one side of the body or head. It is caused by the reactivation of varicella-zoster, the virus that causes chickenpox, which remains in the body, lying dormant in nerves near the spine.

A strong immune system will keep varicella-zoster inactive, but it may re-emerge as shingles later in life when the immune system isn't working as well.

Anyone who has had chickenpox at some point is at risk of getting shingles, and there is now evidence that it is occurring at a greater rate in people shortly after a Covid-19 infection.

Last year, a US study looking at 50-year-olds found those who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 had a significantly higher risk of developing shingles, particularly if they had been hospitalised. The theory is that T-cell immune dysfunction caused by Covid-19 leaves the body more vulnerable. This increased risk is believed to fade after about six months, once the immune system is functioning properly again.