What Causes Shingles

Before taking you through the causes of shingles, here is something you must know about this disease. When shingles strikes, it tends to affect only one part of the body, that could be the left or the right. The characteristic symptom of this disease is a rash that often occurs in the form of band of blisters. People who are mostly diagnosed with it happen to be older adults, and those with a compromised immune system. Not in all cases, shingles may result in complications which may include vision loss, problems with the nervous system, skin infections and can damage nerve fibers causing pain.

What Triggers Shingles?

It is the varicella-zoster virus that is responsible for shingles. In case you did not know, this is the same virus that causes chickenpox.

After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus does not leave the body, but goes into a state of dormancy and lies hidden in the nerve roots. Now in some people, this virus remains in its inactive state forever, but in some, it wakes up and gets reactivated. And when it does, it takes the route of the nerve pathways that lead to the skin, eventually causing the condition known as shingles. Experts are not sure about what causes the virus to reactivate, however, they speculate that low immunity to infections may be one contributing factor. Also note that, the causal virus hails from a group of pathogens known as herpes viruses. Due to this, shingles is also known as herpes zoster.

Most people remain dubious about the contagiousness of shingles. Technically, it is not contagious. Now you might wonder why? A person who is suffering from shingles can pass the varicella-zoster to someone who hasn't had chickenpox in his life. So this person, once infected will develop chickenpox, and may or may not later develop shingles. And a person who has already had chickenpox, will not be affected by a shingles-affected person. So this infers that shingles cannot be transmitted directly, but the varicella-zoster can.

Symptoms and Treatment of Shingles

The common signs and symptoms of shingles include:

• The early symptom is pain, that is accompanied by a burning sensation, numbness or tingling.
• This pain is followed by a skin rash, as already mentioned in this article.
• The blisters would be fluid-filled, and would break open and crust over.
• Other symptoms include itching, fever, chills, headache and pain.

Shingles is one of those conditions that self-resolve, without any treatment. However, with treatment, symptoms can be relieved, risk of complications can be reduced, and recovery can be hastened. Shingles treatment consists of antiviral medications, which are recommended to be administered with 72 hours of the first sign of the condition. For some people, shingles pain may become intolerable. In order to deal with it, doctors may recommend the administration of pain killers.

The best method to manage shingles is to take rest, and avoid strenuous activities. Patients are also advised to exercise relaxation techniques to avoid stress. Cool showers, and anti-itch topical medication, can also be used to relieve the pain and discomfort.