Is there a particular reason for some people to develop Herpes Zoster and others not?

Although even a healthy person can have shingles, people with a weak immune system are more vulnerable to this disease. The immune system can be broken by various causes such as cancer, immune-suppressing medications, chemotherapy, or HIV (Albrecht, 2015). One of the necessary reasons for developing herpes zoster is a previous occurrence of chickenpox in a patient’s history after which varicella-zoster virus remains in the organism and can be activated even after decades.

What specific type of patients is more likely to develop Herpes Zoster?

Herpes zoster can develop in patients of any age. However, researchers agree that increasing age is one of the primary risk factors for the development of this disease (Cohen, 2013). Also, women are more subject to this virus than men, whites more than blacks, and people with herpes zoster in family history (Cohen, 2013). Moreover, the risk of complication increases for elderly patients with herpes zoster (Kawai, Gebremeskel, & Acosta, 2014).