What Is Shingles?

By Annette Pinder

Shingles is an outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the same virus as chickenpox — the varicella-zoster virus. Anyone who has experienced shingles knows it isn’t fun. It can also be extremely painful, and many people don’t know what’s happening to them until it’s too late to slow the virus progress. So recognizing the symptoms can help prevent the virus from escalating into a painful, itchy, messy experience. 

Signs
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some of the first signs of shingles may be burning or tingling pain, numbness or itching, usually in one particular location, and on one side of the body. Often it is a band on one side of the body, and at the trunk and waistline. After several days or a week, a rash of fluid-filled blisters, similar to chickenpox, appears in the area, and pain can be mild or intense. Some people have mostly itching; others feel pain from the gentlest touch or breeze. 

Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles.  Scientists think that, in the original battle with the virus, some particles leave the skin blisters and enter the nervous system.  When the virus reactivates, it moves down the nerve fibers that extend from the sensory cell bodies to the skin.  The viruses multiply and a rash erupts.

Treatment
The severity and duration of shingles can be significantly reduced by immediate treatment with antiviral drugs such as acyclovir. Antiviral drugs may also stave off the painful after-effects of shingles known as postherpetic neuralgia. Treatments for this pain include steroids, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and topical agents. For most healthy people who receive treatment soon after the outbreak, the lesions heal, the pain subsides within 3 to 5 weeks, and the blisters often leave no scars. 

The Shingles Vaccine
The shingles vaccine (Zostavax) is approved for use in people ages 50 to 59 years, but the CDC recommends waiting until age 60 to receive it. Researchers have found giving older adults the vaccine reduces the severity, complications, and number of cases by half. The vaccine is preventative and not a treatment for shingles or postherpetic neuralgia. It should also not be used by those with an allergy to gelatin or any other component of the shingles vaccine. There are also other contraindications for the vaccine, so talk to your doctor for more information.

Is Shingles Contagious?
The CDC says a person with shingles can pass the virus to someone, usually a child, who has never had chickenpox, but the child will develop chickenpox, not shingles. Someone with chickenpox cannot pass shingles onto someone else.  

Current Research
Current research is being conducted at the National Institute of Health, and other institutions across the country to find new methods for treating shingles and its complications. Most insurances, including Medicare and Medicaid provide coverage for the shingles vaccine. To learn more about shingles visit www.cdc.gov.