The U.S. is closer to approving a vaccine for shingles, a painful skin disease that affects the elderly.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) says Merck and Co.'s vaccine, Zostavax, can protect as many as 50 percent of older adults from developing shingles

n influential government advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, recommended on Wednesday that Americans 60 and older get vaccinated against shingles, an excruciatingly painful rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.

Shingles, which is caused by the varicella zoster virus, is a blistering skin rash that is most common in older people. It usually goes away after four weeks, but one in five sufferers develops severe long-term nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia, whose complications can include scarring and loss of vision or hearing

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the licensing of Zostavax (Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ) on May 25. Zostavax is a new vaccine for shingles (also known as herpes zoster) to be given to people who are at least 60 years old.

The vaccine should reduce the risks of shingles, an illness that usually impacts 2 out of every 10 people, particularly the elderly. The shingles disease causes chronic pain

A neuroscientist says Wednesday that regular users of the drug ecstasy can cause extensive damage to their immune systems, while those suffering depression induced by the drug may be more difficult to treat.

The methamphetamine has been linked to psychiatric illnesses, but Dr. Thomas Connor, of Trinity College Dublin, believes it may also place physical health at risk

A recent study showed a new chickenpox vaccine developed for adults, cuts shingles cases, occurring in people 60 and older, by half.

The new vaccine is made with the same virus used in childrens' chickenpox vaccine, only is 20 times more concentrated