Nearly 1 in 3 Americans will develop a shingles infection at some point in their lifetime, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While shingles is often associated with those over the age of 50, anyone who has had chicken pox is at risk for developing the viral infection, even children on rare occasions. As such, it's important to not only understand the causes of shingles and potential treatment options for the condition, but also the internal and external symptoms of the infection.
Causes of Shingles
Shingles emerges from the same virus responsible for chicken pox called varicella-zoster. While infections of the chicken pox eventually run their course, the virus may lay dormant in the nervous system
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indefinitely, even after fighting off the infection. When the immune system is depressed by disease or is not working to its full strength with age, the virus can take advantage. The virus then emerges from hibernation and moves along the nerve pathways to the nerve roots close to the skin. Once at the root, the virus triggers inflammation, which can cause a variety of symptoms both internally and externally. The Symptoms Pain One of the first symptoms you may experience with the development of shingles is pain surrounding the affected areas of skin.
The level of pain varies depending on the individual and the severity of the infection. In mild cases, the pain may be just a slight throbbing, while in others the pain can be severely debilitating, making it difficult to even wear clothing over the affected areas of your skin. While in most cases this pain will go away as the body fights off the infection and your skin heals, a small percentage of those infected can develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). PHN is a lasting chronic nerve pain that persists well after the infection heals. Those who develop shingles after the age of 60 are especially at risk for this chronic condition.
Tingling
Shingles specifically targets your nervous system. As such, it's not uncommon to experience skin tingling on and around the affected skin as inflammation increases around the nerve roots.
Itching
Another nerve-related symptom of a shingle infection is itching. Like pain and tingling, itching develops as the virus targets the nerves roots that provide sensations to the skin. In general, pain is more common than itching or tingling. However, it's important not to itch infected areas of skin, as this can help promote the spread of the
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virus. Rash While many shingle symptoms are not externally noticeable, the majority of those affected by this virus will manifest the infection on their skin in the form of a rash. While a rash can develop anywhere on the body, common places include a single stripe on the right or left side of the body from the middle of the back to the chest, or a patch around the forehead and eyes. If a rash develops near the eye, it's essential to seek treatment as soon as possible, as the resulting nerve damage may cause permanent harm to your vision. If you have a weakened immune system, the virus may take a greater hold on the nervous system, causing the shingles rash to spread across a greater surface area of your body. Not all cases of shingles develop a rash, and it's important to note that symptoms like pain and itching may occur 4 to 5 days before a rash ever develops. Sensitivity Anywhere a rash develops, you can expect to have skin sensitivity. This sensitivity is due to the underlying nerve inflammation and damage beneath the skin. Blisters Depending on the severity of the rash, many shingles patients develop blisters across the surface of the affected tissue. These blisters begin as small clusters of red dots that progress into fluid-filled pockets and typically pop on their own. Once the blisters pop, the skin will scab over within 10 days and heals within two weeks to a month. It's important not to touch or pick at blisters, as the open wounds can make the skin more susceptible to other infections. Fatigue Shingles sufferers will often experience fatigue as the body reallocates energy stores to fight off the infection. Some sufferers may also develop post-viral fatigue, lasting six months or more after an infection has cleared. Fever Another sign of the body fighting off the viral infection is fever. Fever develops when white blood cells fighting the infection produce pyrogens like Interleukin-1. These pyrogens bind to receptors in your brain, which trigger a raise in body temperature to help fight off the infection. Light Sensitivity One of the early signs of shingles in some patients in a sensitivity to light or photophobia. This symptom is less common and often develops before a visible rash. Headache Headaches may also develop with shingles cases. Headaches can be part of the flu-like symptoms associated with infection, or can develop with nerve damage when shingles is present around the eyes and face. Treatment for Shingles While there's currently no cure for this infection, there are various treatments for shingles to help reduce risks for serious side effects and to speed up the course of the virus. Various antiviral prescription medications are used to treat this condition, with the three most common being famciclovir (Famvir), valacyclovir (Valtrex) and acyclovir (Zovirax). Your doctor may also recommend or prescribe treatment options to help with pain and other symptoms of the infection. For example, they may recommend numbing creams or gels like lidocaine, or in severe cases may prescribe narcotic pain killers or injections of anesthetics or corticosteroids. Virus Transmission It's important to understand that shingles is a form of chicken pox, and like that infection is contagious.
Virus transmission occurs from contact with fluid from open blisters. However, the virus does not cause shingles in other people. Those who contract the infection will develop chicken pox, not shingles. If you have shingles, it's important to regularly wash your hands, refrain from touching your rash and keep your rash covered to help prevent transmitting the virus to others.
Those at Risk
While shingles can impact just about anyone, there are three populations at the highest risk. First are those whose immune systems are compromised due to disease, such as those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Second are those whose immune system has been compromised due to disease treatments, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients, steroids like prednisone and medications preventing organ transplant rejection. The population that is most commonly impacted are those over the age of 50, as the risks increase significantly with age.
Prevention
There are steps you can take to help prevent the varicella-zoster virus from developing into shingles. The most effective prevention method is getting immunized with the shingles vaccine. This is especially recommended for those that have had chicken pox and are over the age of
60. While a mild case of shingles may only cause discomfort, more severe cases can result in chronic pain, vision loss and even permanent neurological damage. Understanding the symptoms of this viral infection can help you seek out treatment for shingles earlier. This can help not only reduce discomfort and side effects, but also prevents spreading the disease to others. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Shingles Overview http://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/overview.html
...may have the same symptoms. The symptoms are red bumps that may bleed if the sores are picked over.
Each sensation has its own neuronal receptor, such as: “mechanosensation, thermosensation, vibration, joint position, chemosensation, and electrosensation.” Oaklander then discusses “nocifensive sensations,” or senses that defend us from danger, such as pain and itch. These sensations trigger reflexes and strong movements. However, something that is often left undetected is chronic neuropathic pain, which can cause nerve damage. Shingles is a result of chronic neuropathic pain.
Shingles, herpes zoster, is a very contagious and painful rash, or blister that appears on the skin. These rashes most commonly appear on the sides of the body in stripes. The stripes are made up of many very painful blisters caused by a certain type of virus. The varicella zoster, most commonly known as the chicken pox virus attacks the nerve roots in that area. The herpes zoster virus is in the herpes family, including HSV, herpes simple virus, which causes cold sores, fever blisters, and genital herpes. (WebMD, 2011) Most people are required to get the chicken pox shot when they are children although some do not. The chicken pox shot helps to keep out the virus by keeping it dormant in the nerves. The varicella zoster virus stays in a few cells; this is how shingles appear suddenly. It appears when the dormant cells become active in the later years of life.
The Shingles is an extremely painful condition. Patients who suffer from the Shingles face immense physical pain. For patient L, a 21-year-old female from Davis, California, it was no different. She characterized her experience with the Shingles as starting off with sharp pain traveling up her back through her spinal cord, causing massive headaches. While she was in a lot of physical pain, patient L, being the lackadaisical 21-year-old she is, choose to ignore her discomfort. However, as the pain grew exponentially worse, she began to develop a brick-red rash as well as “puss-filled bulbs” on her back. These bulbs were extremely painful, especially when they were opened. The pain grew worse and the bulbs continued to protrude on her back. She
The Herpes virus is actually from a family of viruses that include 8 different virus strains that affect humans. The viruses are known through numbers 1 through 8 or HHV1-HHV8. HHV 1 and 2 are listed above while HHV 3, known as varicella zoster virus, and that causes chickenpox. HHV 3 can also cause a recurring skin infection known as herpes zoster or shingles. HHV 4 is known as the Epstein Barr virus, and is responsible for the easily spread mononucleosis, commonly referred to as “mono”. HHV 5 is known as...
Herpes Simplex is a common virus that causes infection in humans. This virus is spread in both humans and animals. However, humans are the primary reservoirs for HSV and are the only ones that experience any symptoms. There are two types of Herpes Simplex known as HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 primarily causes oral herpes while HSV-2 causes genital herpes.1 This virus is easily contracted and often during one’s childhood. Unfortunately, this virus is latent and reoccurs every so often, more so during times of stress. Herpes Simplex is a mild infection for most, however, this virus can lead to many serious complications.
Joint pain is one possible effect of Chikungunya in Jamaica. Tenosynovitis is one of the commonest reasons for pain in the shoulder and wrist during the infection (Frankson, 2014). The constant movement of the muscles allows the joints to be rubbing together which produces severe pain of the joints for an infected
There is no vaccine for valley fever, and many in the general public (including the medical community) know very little about the illness. This lack of knowledge has allowed many milder cases to go undiagnosed, leading to underreporting. In addition, valley fever has not received sufficient funding for research.
Other lesions, such as eczema, body lice, insect bites, fungal infections, poison ivy, and various forms of dermatitis can make a person susceptible to this infection.... ... middle of paper ... ... The New York Times.
People affected with Legionnaires disease often have signs and symptoms extremely similar to signs associated with the flu, such as muscle aches, headaches, loss of appetite, and cough. Fevers tend to get high, ranging from temperatures of 102-105 degrees. Symptoms of Legionnaires disease usually do not show up until 2-10 days after a person is infected with the bacteria, and people normally experience other symptoms such as diarrhea and stomach cramps. Pontiac Fever, also known to be associate...
...erson who has not got chickenpox can contract it from anyone who has shingles. Shingles is most common among people over fifty, although anyone can get it. (7)
The virus cannot be transmitted directly from person to person, with that being said if a person does become infected there is no treatment for the virus. Now efforts to reduce pain and lower the fever are taken but the medications used for it have to be chosen carefully because some may increase a bleeding risk. Some of the symptoms of this virus are an abdomen and muscle pain; the whole body get the chills, fatigue, fever begins, or may have an loss of appetite; it’ll cause bleeding, delirium, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and the main reason it’s called ‘Yellow’ Fever because it may turn your skin or eyes yellow.
Therefore this is how long it tales for the chickenpox rashes to become visible in ones body before it becomes dormant in the nervous system. Since the varicella zoster virus can cause two diseases, chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (zoster herpes) it causes different signs and symptoms. Many people know that chickenpox causes red rashes/bumps all over the body that produces itchiness and discomfort. The rash usually starts on the face, scalp, or chest, and quickly spreads throughout the body. It usually appears a few days after you have been exposed. Over 4 days, each blister tends to dry out and form a scab, which then falls off 9 to 13 days later (Varicella-zoster virus, 2016). Along with the rashes comes fever due to the body defense mechanism. As for shingles it is a little different. Shingles is the latent reaction that came from chicken pox and the sings and symptoms are slightly different. “The typical shingles rash starts as redness followed by blisters that usually cover only one side of your body. The rash follows the path of the nerve where the virus has lain dormant. Before the rash appears, you will have warning symptoms of pain, usually a sharp, aching, piercing, tearing, or burning sensation, on the part of your body where the rash appears 1 to 5 days later. That area may also feel itchy, numb, and unbearably sensitive to
The facial nerves that the herpes simplex virus affects can cause many different symptoms, and as proven by this case, you can have herpes activate, even the first time, in an unusual manner such as burning mouth, instead of the typical cold sores.