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The possibility of genetic susceptibility to reactivated varicella zoster infection has been suggested by studies of the gene for interleukin-10; they show that cell-mediated immunity can be down-regulated more easily in some people than in others. Does this finding have any clinical significance?
In a case-control study, 504 immunocompetent patients with zoster and 523 matched controls with other skin conditions were asked to recall cases of zoster or zoster-like illness among immunocompetent family members. Zoster patients were more than four times as likely as controls to report herpes zoster, both in first-degree relatives and in more-distant relatives. Furthermore, cases were more than 13 times as likely as controls to report having mor…