SHINGLES : Rash Symptoms, Causes, Medication Treatment, Vaccine.

SHINGLES : HERPES ZOSTER
Herpes zoster (or zoster), commonly known as shingles, is a viral disease characterised by a painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area on one side of the body. It is caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV), which is also the virus that causes chickenpox. After a chickenpox infection the virus can lodge permanently in ganglionic neurons, and less frequently in non-neuronal satellite cells, without causing any symptoms,[although the mechanism is not understood. In an immunocompromised individual, perhaps years or decades after a chickenpox infection, the virus may break out of nerve cell bodies and travel down nerve axons to cause viral infection of the skin in the region of the nerve. The nerve cell bodies of dorsal root, cranial nerve or autonomic ganglion may contain the latent virus, and the virus may spread from one or more ganglia along nerves of an affected segment and infect the corresponding dermatome causing a rash, often referred to as shingles.Although the rash usually heals within two to four weeks, some sufferers experience residual nerve pain for months or years, a condition called postherpetic neuralgia.

Throughout the world the incidence rate of herpes zoster ranges from 1.2 to 3.4 per 1,000 person-years among healthy individuals, increasing to 3.9–11.8 per 1,000 person‐years among those older than 65 years.Antiviral drug treatment can reduce the severity and duration of herpes zoster when a seven to ten day course is started within 72 hours of the appearance of the characteristic rash.(1)