Chicago TV Anchor Warns Viewers After Health Scare

CHICAGO — NBC Chicago anchor Allison Rosati is urging viewers to get vaccinated for shingles after an extended illness due to the virus.

“Shingles is no joke,” she said during Tuesday’s 6 p.m. broadcast as she returned to the anchor seat after a weekslong absence. “And it’s brutal and can have long-lasting impacts.”

Rosati announced her diagnosis March 5 in a Facebook post.

“I kept putting off getting a shingles shot thinking oh next time I go to Walgreens, I’ll get it done,” she wrote. “Well now I have shingles! I really wish I would’ve gotten the shot.”

Shingles is a painful rash illness that occurs when the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox, reactivates in the bodies of those who have previously had chickenpox, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It typically presents as a rash on either the right or left side of the body.

Risk of serious complications increases with age and for people with suppressed immune systems due to health conditions or medication, according to the CDC, which recommends two doses of the recombinant zoster vaccine for those 50 and older or 19 and older with weakened immune systems.