What You Need to Know
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a viral infection that causes a painful rash, usually on one side of the body. It’s actually caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, which is the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you’ve had chickenpox, the virus stays dormant in your body, typically in the nerves, and can reactivate years later, leading to shingles. It affects many people in the UK, particularly as they get older.
Who is at Risk for Shingles?
Anyone who has had chickenpox can develop shingles, but the risk increases with age. In the UK, people aged 70 and over are more likely to experience shingles, but it can also affect younger people, especially those with weakened immune systems.
How Do You Get Shingles?
You can’t catch shingles from someone who has it, but the virus can spread from a person with shingles to someone who hasn’t had chickenpox or been vaccinated against it. If that happens, the person could develop chickenpox, not shingles.
Shingles occurs when the dormant virus reactivates, but we aren’t entirely sure why this happens. It’s thought that a weakened immune system, due to aging, stress, or certain health conditions, may trigger the virus to wake up and cause shingles.
Symptoms of Shingles
The symptoms of shingles usually begin with pain, tingling, or itching in a small area on one side of the body. This can be followed by a rash that looks like small blisters. The rash can appear anywhere. The blisters eventually burst and crust over after a week or two.
Other symptoms may include:
- Pain, which can be severe
- Fever
- Headache
- Fatigue
In some cases, people experience nerve pain even after the rash clears up. This is called post-herpetic neuralgia and can be a long-term complication of shingles.
Treatment for Shingles
There is no cure for shingles, but treatment can help relieve symptoms and speed up recovery. If you think you might have shingles, it’s important to see a doctor as soon as possible as antiviral medications could be prescribed to help reduce the severity of the illness and shorten the duration. Pain relief, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, can also help manage the discomfort.
Shingles Vaccine in the UK
In the UK, there is a vaccine available to help reduce the risk of getting shingles. It is offered to people aged 70 to 79 under the NHS immunisation programme, but people outside of this group may still be eligible for it and benefit from it.
Here at Harpenden Medical, we offer treatment for shingles and also the Shingrix vaccine. If you would like to discuss this with one of the medical team or would like to book in to have the vaccine, please contact Harpenden Medical on 01582 291828.
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