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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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 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
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.
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
Shingles has affected many people over the years. New discoveries are being made every day to treat Postherpatic Neuralgia and just the overall virus. If a cure is found for shingles, it should also work for chicken pox. They are the same virus, but chicken pox is the initial stage. A cure for shingles would help the young and old.
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...
Reactivation of latent VZV is associated with cutaneous disease occurring in dermatomes, termed herpes zoster (HZ) resulting in shingles or zoster” (Bloch, 2012). Once Varicella enters the human body is goes into a latent cycle then later reactivates and is shown through out the body and “chickenpox” or shingles. Children or adults who have immunodeficiency disorders do not prevent common infectious diseases. Varicella is a common infectious disease; patients with immunodeficiency disorders resist the vaccine treatment of varicella and it attacks their whole immune system. “Patients who have immunodeficiency disorders rely on immunoglobulin prophylaxis to prevent common infectious diseases. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) products are prepared from pools of plasma collected from a large number of healthy donors and, therefore, contain antibodies against many infectious agents preventing a variety of bacterial and viral infections, such as varicella, in patients with impaired antibody production” (Nobre, 2015). This is an example of pathogenesis of a patient whose antibodies were not able to attack the Varicella
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.
...may have the same symptoms. The symptoms are red bumps that may bleed if the sores are picked over.
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.
The complications range from serious, which can include secondary skin infections, to fatal such as Reye syndrome (4). This common disease is highly contagious and easily transmitted through the air by s... ... middle of paper ... ... erson who has not got chickenpox can contract it from anyone who has shingles.