A new systematic review published in PLoS titled, “Herpes Zoster Risk Reduction through Exposure to Chickenpox Patients: A Systematic Multidiscplinary Review,” confirms that the widespread adoption of chickenpox vaccine over the past 30 years, which has resulted in a decline in chickenpox cases associated with infection from the wild-circulating virus, has lead to a concerning increase in the incidents of herpes zoster (shingles), a far more serious expression of chickenpox virus (varicella zoster) infection.
This new review brings to the forefront a few critically important questions: are natural infectious challenges essential for establishing a healthy immune system, and is the chicken pox vaccine doing more harm than good?