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Updated: May 9, 2026

Porcine Corneal Tissue Explant to Study the Efficacy of Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Antivirals
Published on: September 20, 2021
A population based study of the epidemiology of Herpes Zoster and its complications
Dahlia Weitzman1, Oren Shavit, Michal Stein
1Maccabi Healthcare Services, Medical Division, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Objectives:
To assess the incidence of Herpes Zoster (HZ) and its complications in the Israeli general population and specifically in immune-compromised individuals, and to identify risk factors for developing HZ and post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Methods:
A retrospective database search for newly diagnosed cases of HZ and of PHN during 2006-2010 was conducted using the comprehensive longitudinal database of Maccabi Health Services. Cox-proportional hazards models were used to assess associations between risk factors and HZ and PHN.
Results:
During 2006-2010 there were 28,977 newly diagnosed cases of HZ and 1508 newly diagnosed cases of PHN. Incidence density rate of HZ was 3.46 per 1000 person-years in the total population and 12.8 per 1000 person-years in immune-compromised patients. HZ and PHN incidence increased sharply with age. 12.4% and 3.1% of elderly HZ patients (≥ 65 years) developed PHN or ophthalmic complications, respectively. In multivariable analyses, HZ and PHN were associated with female sex, higher socioeconomic status, diabetes mellitus, cancer history, and HIV treatment.
Conclusions:
Extrapolating to the entire Israeli population, we estimate over 24,000 new cases of HZ and 1250 new cases of PHN each year. Cost-effectiveness analysis should be performed to determine the threshold age for vaccination against HZ.
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Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies.

