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A single human protein appears to help spread of varicella-zoster virus, the cause of both shingles and chickenpox, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

The identification of this protein by researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases could be an important first step towards designing new therapies for shingles, they said.

Researchers found that a surface protein of the shingles-causing virus attaches to a cellular protein and uses it to spread the infection to other cells.