Shingles (Herpes zoster) – Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention

Shingles, also known as Herpes zoster, is a viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person had chickenpox, the virus does not get eliminated from the body but remains in the dormant state for a very long time. Sometime soon after a person is treated and free of chickenpox, the virus causes shingles mainly characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area of the body. Often the chickenpox virus remains dormant in the body for decades altogether and becomes active only when the immune system of the body weakens.

Shingles symptoms

Symptoms of shingles appear in phases. In the first phase of symptoms, a person feels uneasiness, has fever and headache. In the second phase, there is a strong itching and pricking sensation on the skin along with mild pain. In some cases, there is extreme pain along with itching.

In a later stage, skin rashes appear on skin in various parts of the body. The parts of the body where the rashes most commonly occurs are face, eyes, hands and neck but can usually appear anywhere.

Shingles treatment

There is no cure for shingles but shingles is treated to shorten the duration and reduce pain and further complications. Shingles treatment includes the following:

• Patients are treated with Analgesics which contains calamine.
• Various antiviral drugs such as acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir.

Shingles prevention

A live vaccine for VZV, marketed as Zostavax is considered to be an effective preventive medication.