HEALTHY LIVING
Health Insider 33%
SHINGLES VACCINE SHORTAGE
It seemed like great news when drugmaker
GlaxoSmithKline developed a new two-part shingles
vaccination that was proven in clinical trials to be far more eff ective than the single-shot vaccine that was the standard treatment. The good news, however, has a caveat: There’s a shortage of Shingrix, the new
treatment. The
shortage is worse in
some areas of the country and
the drugmaker calls demand unprecedented as it struggles to catch up with consumers. Shingles is caused by the dormant chicken pox virus becoming active years later. It can cause two to four weeks of painful skin eruptions and also postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a nerve pain that lasts even longer.
Now many people are
having trouble getting the second part of the Shingrix vaccination, which is approved for people over 50 and is more than 90 percent eff ective at preventing shingles and PHN, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (In people age 50 to 69, Shingrix is 97 percent eff ective in preventing shingles.) Zostavax, the previous standard shingles shot, was only 51 percent eff ective against shingles and 67 percent against PHN, according to Consumer Reports.
SHINGLES BY THE NUMBERS 50+ Rough percentage of
Americans who will develop shingles in their lifetime.
The age at which people
are most at risk to develop shingles.
2.1 MILLION Number of doctor visits
Americans make per year because of shingles.
SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mayo Clinic, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The second Shingrix shot should be received two to six months after the first one, but experts say the timing is not critical, although
they stress that both shots are needed to ensure the success
rate.
ANTI-AGING STUDY HUGE SUCCESS USING DRUG COMBINATION New anti-aging research
nearly doubled the lifespan of animals in research conducted by scientists in Singapore. “We show that dramatic
lifespan extension can be achieved by targeting multiple, evolutionarily conserved aging pathways and mechanisms using drug combinations,” the researchers wrote in a summary of their study published in Developmental Cell.
Experimental cocktails
of already existing drugs were used as the researchers attempted to amplify the eff ects of certain drugs that had previously shown promising results in anti- aging.
The anti-aging benefits included an increase in the amount of time the subject enjoyed good health and showed no ill eff ects, a
82 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | JANUARY 2019
combination that researchers hope to replicate in humans.
IMMUNOTHERAPY EXTENDS BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL Immunotherapy has shown promise as an eff ective weapon in the war on cancer, and for the first time a clinical trial has shown that when it is combined with chemotherapy it boosted survival rates and slowed tumor growth in people with one of the worst forms of breast cancer.
Triple-negative breast
cancer is one of the most aggressive types of cancer and accounts for approximately 15 percent of all diagnosed cases of breast cancer. In the
trial, conducted by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (also in London) survival rates were extended up to 10 months, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment also reduced the risk of death or the cancer progressing by 40 percent.
Immunotherapy boosts the body’s immune system to battle cancer by using substances made from living
organisms. “These results are a
massive step forward,” study co-author Prof. Peter Schmid said. The new treatment is now under review by health authorities in the United Kingdom.
INSIDER SPOTLIGHT: DR. MEHMET OZ
Dr. Mehmet Oz is host of the popular TV show “The Dr. Oz Show.” He is a cardiothoracic surgeon, professor in the Department of Surgery at Columbia University and directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Oz also has a successful magazine and is a proponent of alternative medicine. You can read his blog on Newsmax’s web site at
www.newsmax.com/health.
VACCINE/ONESIDEPROFOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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