How much do you know about shingles?
What is shingles? What is the cause of this disease? Varicellazoster virus, which was the cause of chicken pox in your childhood, may reactivate and give you shingles. This virus, which hides in the body’s nervous system, shows itself in this way when the body’s nervous system is weakened.
“Varicellazoster” virus is part of the family of “herpes” viruses that causes herpes, the word zoster means belt or belt. In shingles, severe and burning pain is constantly felt along a nerve path, and red blisters appear at the pain site a few days later, and the color of the blisters gradually darkens.
Shingles is a type of viral disease that is caused by chicken pox (varicella zoster virus). People of any age are likely to get shingles, and it is seen in more than half of the cases in people over fifty years old in the United States. Shingles usually affects the elderly and is less common in young people than in the elderly.
In the cold season, some diseases have more opportunities to spread and cause many worries. “Zone” is one of these diseases; An acute infectious disease caused by a virus called “Herpes zoster” or, in fact, the familiar “chicken pox” virus.
When a person has chicken pox in childhood, after recovery, the virus remains latent in the peripheral nerve cells and can reactivate later with a weakened immune system, which manifests itself as shingles.
A different and cruel shingle
Some people are more prone to shingles than others. According to this genetic counselor, things like aging, diabetes, severe stress, AIDS, taking immunosuppressant drugs such as corticosteroid drugs or drugs used in various types of chemotherapy to treat cancer patients and in general factors that reduce the body’s immunity , increase the probability of contracting this disease.
The pain in the area affected by shingles varies from low to high, and sometimes this pain is confused with other pains before the formation of a blister. For example, if it is on the chest, it is mistaken for heart pain, and if it is on the sides, it is mistaken for kidney or appendix pain, or if it is on the face, it is mistaken for migraine pain.
The pain of shingles usually lasts for 5 to 7 days, after which blisters appear and the patient has fever and chills.
The appearance of blisters in these areas can cause blindness or deafness if the treatment is delayed; So, in case of contracting this disease, the treatment process should be started as soon as possible. The treatment of shingles includes the use of antiviral drugs, painkillers, cold compresses, and avoiding stimulating foods such as pepper, pickles, and spices.
Shingles, from emergence to treatment
Since this disease is annoying and very painful, it is very important to know the duration of the disease.
If the disease is diagnosed quickly and the treatment period starts early, it takes about 5 to 10 days for the lesion to heal, but if the treatment process is delayed,
The place of the blisters may remain for the rest of the life and the pain will bother the person for a long time. If the treatment is started with a delay and if the blisters have appeared on the peripheral nerves, the affected nerve will bother the affected person for the rest of his life.
This disease is contagious, but it is not transmitted through breathing like chicken pox, but it can be spread by touching the blisters, and interestingly, the probability of shingles in people who have not had chicken pox is very small.