overview
Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can appear anywhere on your body, most of the time it appears as a single band of blisters that wraps around the left or right side of your torso.
Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus – the same virus that causes chickenpox. After chickenpox, the virus is inactive in the nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus can reactivate as shingles.
Shingles is not a life-threatening disease, but it can be very painful. Vaccines can help reduce the risk of shingles. Early treatment can help shorten shingles infection and reduce the risk of complications. The most common complication is post-therapeutic neuralgia, which causes pain from shingles for a long time after your bladders have cleared up. Zoster Treatment in Khammam
symptoms
- Picture of a rash due to shingles
- ShinglesOpen Pop-up Dialog
- The signs and symptoms of shingles usually affect only a small part of one side of the body. These signs and symptoms could include:
- Pain, burning, numbness, or tingling sensation
- Sensitivity to touch
- A red rash that starts a few days after the pain
- Blisters filled with fluid that open and crust
- itching
The reasons
- Nerves in the back
- Shingles affects the nerves Open the pop-up dialog
- Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus – the same virus that causes chickenpox. Anyone who has had chickenpox can develop shingles. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus enters your nervous system and remains inactive for years.
Eventually, it can be reactivated and travel along the nerve pathways to your skin, creating shingles. But not everyone who has had chickenpox will develop shingles. Zoster Treatment in Khammam
The reason for shingles is not clear. But it may be due to decreased immunity to infection as you get older. Shingles is more common in the elderly and in people with weakened immune systems.
Risk factors
Anyone who has had chickenpox in the past can develop shingles. Most adults in the United States had chickenpox when they were children, before routine childhood vaccinations that now protect against chickenpox emerged.
Factors that can increase your risk of developing shingles include:
Be over 50 years old. Shingles is most common in people over 50. The risk increases with age.
Have certain diseases. Illnesses that weaken your immune system, such as HIV / AIDS and cancer, can increase your risk of shingles.
Undergo cancer treatment. Radiation therapy or chemotherapy can decrease your disease resistance and cause shingles.
Complications
Complications from shingles can include:
- Post-therapeutic neuralgia. In some people, shingles pain lasts long after the blisters have cleared. This condition is known as post-therapeutic neuralgia and occurs when damaged nerve fibers send confusing and exaggerated pain messages from your skin to your brain.
- Loss of vision. Shingles in or around one eye (herpes zoster ophthalmic) can cause painful eye infections that can lead to vision loss.
- Neurological problems. Depending on the nerves affected, shingles can cause inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), facial paralysis, or hearing or balance disorders.
preventions
A shingles vaccine can help prevent shingles.
People who want to get the shingles vaccine have two options: Shingrix and Zostavax.
In the US, Shingrix was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 and is preferred over Zostavax. Studies suggest that Shingrix has provided shingles protection for more than five years. Shingrix is a non-live vaccine that consists of a viral component. It is given in two doses with two to six months between doses.
Shingrix is approved and recommended for people aged 50 and over, including people who have previously received Zostavax or who have had shingles.
Zostavax has been shown to provide protection against shingles for about five years. It is a live vaccine that is given as a single injection, usually in the upper arm. Zostavax is recommended for people aged 60 and over. Although it will no longer be sold in the US as of July 2020, other countries can still use it. Zoster Treatment in Khammam