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Causes Of Shingles
Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. After a person gets chicken pox, the chicken pox virus does not leave the body. Instead it lives in the nervous system in a dormant and inactive condition. When the virus becomes active in the nervous system, it causes shingles. |
Causes of Shingles:
Shingles is not a new infection. Rather it is considered to be a second outbreak of the chicken pox virus. The herpes zoster virus is responsible for causing shingles and once this virus awakens from its dormant state, it starts travelling along the nerve paths to the skin causing blisters and severe pain.
Under certain circumstances, emotional stress, immune deficiency from AIDS or chemotherapy or with diseases like cancer, the virus reactivates. However, in most cases the cause of the reactivation is not known. The fact remains that anyone who has had chicken pox is at risk of developing shingles. Shingles is seen more commonly in people over the age of 60 but even children can suffer from it.
In the United States, each year, around 500,000 cases of shingles occur. The infected child or adult experiences severe pain, itching, tingling or burning sensation of the skin. This often happens before the rash breaks out and the blisters that form resemble those of chicken pox but are concentrated in the area where the nerve is affected. Rarely more than one nerve is involved and at times the entire path of the nerve can have blisters or the entire area supplied by the nerve gets the shingles rash. These blisters eventually burst, crust over and heal. The entire outbreak of shingles lasts for around 3 weeks to 4 weeks.
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Causes Of Shingles
Usually there is not health problem with shingles because the blisters heal well. However, sometimes the blisters can get infected with bacteria leading to cellulitis, which is a bacterial infection of the skin. If a person gets cellulitis because of shingles, the affected area becomes red, warm, firm and tender. One will find red streaks around the wound. If you notice this, you should immediately contact your doctor so that he can prescribe antibiotics to treat the condition. 
