WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. National Institutes of Health-led study says a new vaccine cut in half the risk of developing shingles.
Even where it did not prevent the painful skin disease, the vaccine reduced by two-thirds the chance that a shingles sufferer will be left with tormenting chronic pain, the Washington Post reported Thursday. About 1 million U.S. residents get shingles annually.
The results are based on a $31 million, 13-year-long study that tested the vaccine on more than 38,000 people cared for through the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Post said. The findings are published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
"Although we didn't reduce the incidence as much, we reduced the severity. We all know that you can put up with almost anything if it doesn't last too long," said the study's author Michael N. Oxman of the VA San Diego Healthcare System in California.
The vaccine, if approved, may help its maker Merck & Co., recover from its current financial losses, the Post said.
