The worrying rise of shingles among millennial women (The Guardian)

Tier 2: Professional organization or credentialed expert guidance
Publisher: The Guardian · Published: July 26, 2026 · Accessed: August 23, 2026

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Francine Jones, 39, healthcare assistant from Hereford: 'lightning strike' nerve pain every 10 minutes, a band of blisters from stomach to back that burned 'like someone was putting an iron on me,' five weeks of intense itching, and 'I always thought it was old people who got shingles.'
A 2019 US research paper reported the sharpest rise in shingles among those aged 30 to 49; between 1998 and 2017 cases in that cohort more than doubled.
A 2026 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases found those aged 30-39 with asthma, diabetes, depression or stress had a higher shingles risk than immunocompetent 50-59s.
Across most age groups, women have a 56% higher chance of developing shingles, thought to be because their immune systems work differently from men's.
Facebook support groups full of women: 'I've had shingles eight times in the last two years. I'm 38 years old'; 'I had it at 41 this time last year'; 'I'm 44, got shingles last year and it was horrific, the pain!'
Immunologist Jennifer Moffat (SUNY Upstate): 'It only takes a small gap in your immune function to let this virus pop out' - Covid or flu, bad sunburn, type 2 diabetes, or steroid treatment can trigger reactivation; 'having depression at ages 30 to 39 puts you at as high a risk for shingles as a person in their 50s.'
Daisy, 51, had shingles three times; her third flare in 2023 followed laryngitis and Covid 'and she had started perimenopause.'
Consultant dermatologist Dr Adil Sheraz: antivirals are most effective within 72 hours of first symptoms; shingles can be missed pre-rash, and younger patients are overlooked.
Hayley, 42, suffered corneal scarring after shingles near her eye was repeatedly missed; proximity to the eye can risk blindness.
NHS figures cited: around a quarter of people will experience shingles in their lifetime; shingles vaccination is offered to over-65s in the UK and over-50s in the US.