If you come into contact with someone who has chickenpox or an active shingles infection, you can develop chickenpox if you have not been vaccinated or if you have never had it before. Getting a chickenpox vaccine before pregnancy can be an important step in protecting your child. Shingles is less likely to cause complications during pregnancy, but it can still be unpleasant. See your doctor right away if you develop any rash during pregnancy.
Find out more about shingles and pregnancy. Antiviral medications that treat shingles can be used safely during your pregnancy. Antihistamines can also help reduce itching, and acetaminophen Tylenol can reduce pain. Most cases of shingles can be diagnosed with a physical examination of rashes and blisters. Your doctor will also ask questions about your medical history.
In rare instances, your doctor may need to test a sample of your skin or the fluid from your blisters. This involves using a sterile swab to collect a sample of tissue or fluid. Samples are then sent to a medical laboratory to confirm the presence of the virus. These complications include:. Shingles is not the same as hives , which are itchy, raised welts on your skin.
Hives are usually caused by an allergic reaction to medication, food, or something in your environment. Shingles can occur in anyone who has had chickenpox.
However, certain factors put people at risk for developing shingles. Risk factors include :. Shingles is particularly common in older adults. Of the 1 in 3 people who will get shingles in their lifetime, about half of those will be people 60 years or older. This is because the immune systems of older people are more likely to be compromised or weakened.
Older adults with shingles are more likely to experience complications than the general population, including more extensive rashes and bacterial infections from open blisters. To prevent shingles, the CDC recommends that adults who are 50 years old and older receive the shingles vaccine.
Vaccines can help keep you from developing severe shingles symptoms or complications from shingles. All children should receive two doses of the chickenpox vaccine, also known as a varicella immunization. Adults who are 50 years or older should get a shingles vaccine, also known as the varicella-zoster immunization, according to the CDC. This vaccine helps to prevent severe symptoms and complications associated with shingles. There is one shingles vaccine available, Shingrix recombinant zoster vaccine.
The CDC states that Shingrix is the preferred vaccine. The CDC notes that if you have received Zostavax, a shingles vaccine used in the past, you should get the Shingrix vaccine. Shingles, or herpes zoster, occurs when the dormant chickenpox virus is reactivated in nerve tissues. Early symptoms include tingling and pain. Shingles is caused by the same virus, known as varicella-zoster virus, as chickenpox. Shingles can be painful and cause severe complications, so early…. Internal shingles occurs when shingles invades the nerves inside the body.
Read on to learn the causes and how to treat it. Shingles happens when the chickenpox virus, varicella-zoster, reactivates in your body. Shingles is the reactivation of the infection.
Most people develop chickenpox as children. Shingles most often appears in adulthood. You most likely will not have chickenpox again. However, the virus can reappear in an adult as shingles. Known as herpes zoster HZ , shingles occurs when the virus is reactivated in one of your nerves. The first sign of shingles is usually a burning or stinging sensation in a band-like formation around the waist, chest, stomach, or back. You may experience itching or become incredibly sensitive to even the softest touch.
The weight of bed sheets on your skin may be uncomfortable. You may also experience fatigue, fever, and headache. After a few days or even up to a couple of weeks, the tell-tale shingles rash will appear.
This rash consists of fluid-filled blisters that typically scab over within a week to 10 days. The blisters may look like chickenpox, but they are clustered together. The shingles rash is usually in a striped shape on one side of the body or across the face , following the dermatome. The dermatome is the pattern of nerves that spread out from the affected nerve root.
Shingles can generally be diagnosed by your doctor by taking a health history and looking at your rash. In some instances, your doctor may take a sample of the fluid from one of the blisters to verify the diagnosis.
There is no cure for shingles. However, antivirals can shorten the duration and make the attack less severe, especially when taken within the first three days after the rash appears. Though shingles most often appears on the skin, it can affect any part of the body, including internal organs. Shingles typically takes three to five weeks to progress through all of the stages of the illness. These stages can be seen below. This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.
After experiencing moderate to severe stinging or burning pain, slightly reddish patches of skin with small bumps will develop in a cluster in the area of pain. These patches then turn into small blisters. The blisters are typically filled with pus and may be itchy. This stage of shingles can last up to five days before moving to the next stage.
In this stage, the blisters begin to dry up and scab over. The scabs turn a yellowish color and can take two to 10 days to form. Scratching your shingles blisters can break them open, which may lead to a bacterial infection.
This can lead to scarring. Be careful when scratching the blisters. If you notice that the area becomes red or swells, see a doctor to rule out further infection. You can expect permanent results in all but one area. Do you know which one? If you want to diminish a noticeable scar, know these 10 things before having laser treatment.
Having acne can feel devastating for a teenager. Here are 5 things you can do to help your teen. Find out what helps. If your child develops scabies, everyone in your household will need treatment.
Follow this advice to treat everyone safely and effectively. A chronic skin condition can make attending summer camp unrealistic for some children.
Camp Discovery changes that. You cannot get shingles from someone who has shingles. You can get chickenpox from someone who has shingles if you have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine. To prevent spreading VZV to others: Cover the rash. Avoid touching or scratching the rash. Wash your hands often. Avoid contact with the following people until your rash crusts: pregnant women who have never had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine; premature or low birth weight infants; and people with weakened immune systems, such as people receiving immunosuppressive medications or undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients, and people with human immunodeficiency virus HIV infection.
Some people have a greater risk of getting shingles. This includes people who have medical conditions that keep their immune systems from working properly, such as certain cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, and human immunodeficiency virus HIV receive drugs that keep their immune systems from working properly, such as steroids and drugs that are given after organ transplantation.
0コメント