How Is Shingles Spread?

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Symptoms and Causes

Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a pathological infection that causes one to have painful rashes with blisters on the body. This infection mostly occurs as a stripe of sores that wraps around your torso or face. The disease’s cause a virus known as varicella-zoster. The virus also causes chickenpox.

Its symptoms may include some pain and burning of the affected area on your body, a red rash appearing a few days after the problem, and some blisters that break open. Some shingle-infected people may also get a headache, fever, maybe light-sensitive, and develop fatigue.

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Can Shingles Affect Teenagers?

shingles teenagers

Often shingles is referred to as “adult chickenpox”. Unfortunately, this name can lead to the misconception that shingles only affects adults. The truth is simple. If a child has had chickenpox, they can get shingles at any time.

Causes

After the immune system fights off chickenpox it lays dormant in a person’s body. That virus, varicella-zoster, can reactivate as herpes zoster (shingles) through your nervous system. It will then appear on the skin as a painful rash.

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What Causes The Skin Disease Called Shingles

shingles causes

The virus varicella-zoster causes the skin condition known as shingle infection. The infection mostly affects your torso but can also affect other parts of your body. Shingle infection and chickenpox are almost similar in appearance because they both originate from the varicella-zoster virus.

However, there are some differences between the two. Shingle infections present as a painful rash that progresses into a blister filled with fluid, while chickenpox presents as itchy blisters. The blisters of shingle infections dry out after about a week to form a crust. Furthermore, chickenpox is usually more widespread in the body, unlike shingles which affect just one side of the body.

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How To Differentiate Between Shingles And Hives?

hives extreme temperatures

Do you have a rash? Has your skin turned red or does it have an irritation? And are you confused about whether you have shingles or hives? Well, not to worry. A lot of people confuse the two because they both have similar symptoms.

But they’re not the same. Shingles is spread by a virus, while hives are associated with allergies. Hives can also be caused by exposure to extreme temperatures, as well as some types of infections. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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Is Shingles A Serious Skin Condition?

The Varicella-Zoster virus is the source of shingles, so Herpes Zoster and Zoster are alternative names for the infection. Varicella-Zoster is also responsible for chickenpox hence the relationship between chickenpox and Zoster. People who have not had chickenpox do not develop Herpes Zoster. Not everyone who has had chickenpox will experience an outbreak of Herpes Zoster.

Lying in Wait

Typically, chickenpox comes under the heading of childhood disease, but it affects adults as well. After someone recovers from chickenpox, the Varicella-Zoster virus hibernates in their body. Decades can pass before the virus awakens and becomes a Herpes Zoster infection. Medical researchers have yet to learn why the virus will resurrect in some but not others. There are known Herpes Zoster risk factors.

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