Shingles - Herpes Zoster

Chicken Pox is a well-known illness to most parents. The majority of children pick up this contagious disease from friends or classmates with minimal complications. Few people realize that years after a person gets chicken pox, the virus that caused it may reactivate and affect areas surrounding a particular nerve. This condition is known as Herpes Zoster, or shingles, and results in pain and blistering in the affected nerve area.

When susceptive children come across the Herpes Zoster virus they may develop a rash over most of the body, the hallmark of chicken pox. Other children who have acquired immunity (have already had chicken pox) will suffer no ill effect from the virus.

Although chicken pox and its effects may clear up, the virus stays in the body. It becomes dormant (inactive) and hides away in the brain or spinal cord. If a person is ill or weakened, the virus may reactivate (after many years) and multiply. This can also happen for no apparent reason. The virus shows its presence by causing pain and general discomfort along the course of the affected nerve (the dermatome).

The first signs and symptoms of shingles may be slight fever and chills, accompanied by fatigue, deep pain and occasionally digestive problems. The skin over the area looks red, feels warm and begins to hurt. Within 4 to 5 days, a group of blisters break out in clusters, forming a band or line in the area supplied by the nerve. ("Shingles" comes from the Greek word for "girdle", since the disease often affects the waistline, from back to navel). Classically the eruption does not cross the midline.

The blisters go from clear fluid to cloudy, then form crusts which slough away, leaving mild scars in some cases. Although pain usually diminishes as the blisters disappear, it may persist for several weeks, or indefinitely (Post-herpetic neuralgia).