Shingles

**Shingles**, dem sanso know as **herpes zoster** anaa **zona**, be a viral disease wey be characterized by a painful skin rash plus blisters insyd a localized area. Typically de rash dey occur insyd a single, wide mark either on de left anaa right side of de body anaa face. Two to four days before de rash occur, der fi be tingling anaa local pain insyd de area. Oda common symptoms be fever, headache, den tiredness. De rash usually dey heal within two to four weeks, buh sam people dey develop ongoing nerve pain wich fi last for months anaa years, a condition dem call postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Insyd those plus poor immune function de rash fi occur widely. If de rash involve de eye, vision loss fi occur.

Shingles be caused by de varicella zoster virus (VZV) wey sanso dey cause chickenpox. Insyd de case of chickenpox, dem sanso call varicella, de initial infection plus de virus typically dey occur during kiddie time anaa adolescence. Once na de chickenpox resolve, de virus fi remain dormant (inactive) insyd human nerve cells (dorsal root ganglia anaa cranial nerves) for years anaa decades, after wich e fi reactivate den travel along nerve bodies to nerve endings insyd de skin, wey dey produce blisters. During an outbreak of shingles, exposure to de varicella virus dem find insyd shingles blisters fi cause chickenpox insyd sam one wey no yet get chickenpox, although dat person no go suffer from shingles, at least on de first infection. Dem no well understand how de virus dey remain dormant insyd nerve cells anaa subsequently dey re-activate.

Na de disease be recognized since ancient times. Risk factors for reactivation of de dormant virus dey include old age, poor immune function, den having contracted chickenpox before 18 months of age. Diagnosis typically dey base on de signs den symptoms present. *Varicella zoster virus* no be de same as *herpes simplex virus*, although dem both belong to de alpha subfamily of herpesviruses.

Shingles vaccines dey reduce de risk of shingles by 50 to 90%, wey dey depend on de vaccine dem use. Vaccination sanso dey decrease rates of postherpetic neuralgia, den, if shingles occur, ein severity. If shingles develop, antiviral medications such as aciclovir fi reduce de severity den duration of disease if e start within 72 hours of de appearance of de rash. Evidence no dey show a significant effect of antivirals anaa steroids on rates of postherpetic neuralgia. Paracetamol, NSAIDs, anaa opioids fi be used to help plus acute pain.

Dem estimate say about a third of people develop shingles at sam point insyd dema lives. While shingles be more common among older people, kiddies sanso fi get de disease. According to de US National Institutes of Health, de number of new cases per year dey range from 1.2 to 3.4 per 1,000 person-years among healthy individuals to 3.9 to 11.8 per 1,000 person-years among those older dan 65 years of age. About half of those wey dey live to age 85 go get at least one attack, den fewer dan 5% go get more dan one attack. Although symptoms fi be severe, risk of death be very low: 0.28 to 0.69 deaths per million.

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## External links

* NINDS Shingles Information Page – National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke