A recent study suggests having a shingles outbreak may increase the risk of developing MS in the following year.

Shingles is a blistering skin rash that can also have serious ocular effects. It is caused by varicella-zoster virus which is the same virus that causes chicken pox. In a recent study in Journal of Infectious Disease , 315,550 adult participants with shingles and 946,650 healthy controls were followed for one year. Researchers found that the participants with shingles were nearly four times more likely to develop MS in the following year. The research was conducted in Taiwan and hopefully will be repeated in other regions.