The Herpes Zoster Virus is responsible for causing shingles, which is a painful rash. This same virus is responsible for causing chicken pox in children. When most people have recovered from chicken pox the virus becomes dormant, however in some people the virus reactivates itself, usually several years after the individual first suffered from chicken pox.
Although shingles is a contagious infection it cannot be transmitted by touching an infected person.
No one knows what causes the herpes zoster virus to reactivate itself in certain individuals, all that is known is what happens to it after chicken pox has been contracted, and the process that occurs before an individual contracts shingles. After an individual (usually a child) has suffered from chicken pox the virus travels to the root of the nerves where it becomes dormant. When an individual contracts shingles it’s because the virus has “awoken” and travelled from the root of the nerves back up to the skin.
The people who are most susceptible to shingles are the elderly and people with immune deficiency (which can be caused by chemotherapy and HIV). But the vast majority of people who catch this infection are people with a normal immune system.
Now let’s look at the symptoms of shingles:
The initial indicator that the herpes zoster virus has reactivated is a burning sensation around the nerve paths as the virus travels through them. The individual will then feel pain, usually on one side of the body. The pain can affect different parts of the body but it depends on the positions of the nerve paths that the virus is travelling through.
The next symptom to occur is a rash consisting of miniature red blisters. The skin around the rash also becomes swollen. The sufferer will develop a fever and will find that his lymph nodes become swollen.
After 3-5 days the blisters burst and become painful sores. Over the next week or so these sores scab over and eventually fall off.
Some people may experience postherpetic neuralgia, this is when the skin becomes very painful after the scabs have fallen off. This unpleasant symptom can last for between 3 weeks to several months.
If you suffer from any of the symptoms mentioned above you should go and see your doctor right away, a doctor can quite easily diagnose this condition by the presence of the rash as well as looking of your medical history. If the symptoms that are displayed are not conclusive enough for a doctor to diagnose herpes then a scrape test or a blood test can be used in order to accurately diagnose the condition.
If shingles is diagnosed the doctor will prescribe antiviral medication such as zovirax or acyclovir. These types of medications are most effective when they are used as soon as the burning sensation begins. The treatment becomes less effective if it is used more than 48 hours after the rash has occurred. So time is of the essence in regards to treating shingles. If medication is taken early, then the patient can expect the infection to go away faster, and the infection will not be able to spread.
