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Scientists suspect that the shingles vaccination may help by preventing the reactivation of dormant viruses like varicella zoster and herpes simplex, which are thought to contribute to brain inflammation and the accumulation of dangerous proteins linked to dementia.—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 7 Dec. 2025 Zostavax contains a weakened form of the live varicella-zoster virus.—Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 2 Dec. 2025 The latent varicella zoster virus lies dormant in the body after a person has chicken pox.—Amy McGorry, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025 The varicella-zoster virus causes not just the itchy chickenpox rash but sometimes systemic infections, pneumonia and brain swelling.—Andrea Tamayo, Scientific American, 18 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for zoster
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin zōstēr, borrowed from Greek zōstḗr "belt, girdle, shingles," from zōs-, base of zṓnnȳmi, aorist ézōsa "(I) gird(ed)" + -tēr, suffix of instruments — more at zone entry 1
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