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Shingles
Shingles is a viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, and is called shingles during reactivation. Varicella zoster is the medical name for the virus which is activated as a result of a shingles flare up. You can only develop shingles if you have had a previous infection of chickenpox (usually as a child). Shingles is also called herpes zoster, because the varicella virus is in the larger herpes family of viruses. Shingles is most common in people over 60 years of age, but shingles can occur in young people as well.
After you recover from chickenpox, the chickenpox virus becomes dormant and remains in your body; it goes back to and remains in the roots of your nerve cells and one automatically becomes susceptible to having shingles. Later, if the chickenpox virus is reactivated, the symptoms are called shingles. What causes the reactivation of the virus to onset shingles is still not known. However, it is believed that a weakened immune system seems to allow the onset of shingles. Shingles may occur with immune-suppressing medications, with another illness, or after major surgery.
Shingles is also seen as a complication of cancer or AIDS. Advancing age, cortisone-type drugs, and the stress of major surgery may trigger a shingles outbreak. Shingles may also become active after trauma to the skin from injury or sunburn. Additionally, emotional stress has been linked to trigger a shingles outbreak.
The first symptoms of shingles are often burning, sharp pain, tingling, or numbness in or under your skin on one side of your body or face. Shingles most commonly appears on the back or upper abdomen. You may have severe itching or aching rather than pain when experiencing a shingles outbreak. When you have a shingles flare up, you also may feel tired and ill with fever, chills, headache, and an upset stomach. After several days of a shingles flare up, you will notice a rash of small, clear, fluid-filled blisters on reddened skin. Within 3 days after they appear, the shingles blisters often turn yellow, then dry and crust over if left untreated.
Because shingles tends to follow nerve paths, shingles blisters are usually found in a line, often extending from the back or flank around to the abdomen, just on one side. Shingles never crosses the midline of the body. The word shingles comes from the Latin word for belt or girdle. A shingles rash also may appear on one side of your face. Some people have painful shingles eye inflammations and infections.
A person with shingles can transmit chickenpox to a person who has never had the virus. There are virus particles in the blister fluid. Shingles contamination occurs only with direct contact or indirect contact (for example, a washcloth) with the blister fluid. If you have shingles, avoid contact with infants, children, pregnant women, and adults who have never had chickenpox until your shingles blisters are completely dry.
