Shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. Two to four days before the rash occurs there may be tingling or local pain in the area. Other common symptoms are fever, headache, and tiredness. The rash usually heals within two to four weeks; however, some people develop ongoing nerve pain which can last for months or years, a condition called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). In those with poor immune function the rash may occur widely. If the rash involves the eye, vision loss may occur.
Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV) that also causes chickenpox. In the case of chickenpox, also called varicella, the initial infection with the virus typically occurs during childhood or adolescence. Once the chickenpox has resolved, the virus can remain dormant (inactive) in human nerve cells (dorsal root ganglia or cranial nerves) for years or decades, after which it may reactivate. Shingles results when the dormant varicella virus is reactivated. The virus then travels along nerve bodies to nerve endings in the skin, producing blisters. During an outbreak of shingles, exposure to the varicella virus found in shingles blisters can cause chickenpox in someone who has not yet had chickenpox, although that person will not suffer from shingles, at least on the first infection. How the virus remains dormant in the body or subsequently re-activates is not well understood.
The disease has been recognized since ancient times. Risk factors for reactivation of the dormant virus include old age, poor immune function, and having contracted chickenpox before 18 months of age. Diagnosis is typically based on the signs and symptoms presented. Varicella zoster virus is not the same as herpes simplex virus, although they belong to the same family of herpesviruses.
Shingles vaccines reduce the risk of shingles by 50% to 90%, depending on the vaccine used.
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Herpes simplex is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Infections are categorized based on the part of the body infected. Oral herpes involves the face or mouth. It may result in small blisters in groups often called cold sores or fever blisters or may just cause a sore throat. Genital herpes, often simply known as herpes, involves the genitalia. It may have minimal symptoms or form blisters that break open and result in small ulcers. These typically heal over two to four weeks.
Bell's palsy is a type of facial paralysis that results in a temporary inability to control the facial muscles on the affected side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe. They may include muscle twitching, weakness, or total loss of the ability to move one or, in rare cases, both sides of the face. Other symptoms include drooping of the eyebrow, a change in taste, and pain around the ear. Typically symptoms come on over 48 hours.
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 11,000 of the millions of virus species have been described in detail.
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