my friend wants to know what exactly are shingles and what causes it?

Answer 1

Shingles is a rash, generally on one side of your body. It could be on your neck and face, back and stomach...but only on one side. It's very painful~ and it's caused by a dormant chicken pox virus that is somehow, triggered into action.

Answer 2

The first sign of shingles is often burning or tingling pain, or sometimes numbness, in or under the skin. The individual may also feel ill with fever, chills, headache, or stomach upset. After several days, a rash of small fluid-filled blisters, reminiscent of chickenpox, appears on reddened skin. The pain associated with shingles can be intense and is often described as "unrelenting." People with lesions on the torso may feel spasms of pain at the gentlest touch or breeze. The blisters are usually limited to a band, called dermatomes, spanning one side of the trunk, around the waistline, or clustered on one side of the face.

The distribution of the shingles spots is a telltale clue to where the chickenpox virus has been hiding since the initial infection. Scientists now know that the shingles lesions correspond to the dermatome supplied by a specific sensory nerve that exits from the brain or spinal cord.

For the majority of healthy individuals, this second bout with the chickenpox virus is almost always a second triumph of the body's immune system. The shingles attack may last longer than chickenpox, and the patient may need medication for pain, but in most cases the body has the inner resources to fight back. The lesions heal, the pain subsides within 3 to 5 weeks, and for most patients the blisters leave no scars

Answer 3

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Answer 4

It is he same virus as chicken pox, you get Shingles instead if you are older than say 15.
It affects the nerves usually on the chest and follows under the arm to the back, the nerve line.
Another area is the face across the eye....this is more dangerous. It is only on one side of the face or body. They start out as blisters, but with quite a bit of nerve pain in the underlying skin area, and then they break open, and can leave a scar. The pain may or may not be felt for many months after the blisters heal. I've had it when I was l6 when there was an outbreak of chicken pox, it was on my left breast and scapula, I could not wear a bra for weeks. Then 50 years later I got it again while in Mexico, I diagnosed it myself looked on the internet for the medicine, which came in a tube and was very expensive, but 50 years back they had NOTHING.

Answer 5

I was a CNA for many years. In some people the chicken pox remains dormatory for years and then invades a second time in their lives in the form of shingles. Normally people who are elderly are the ones who get it but I have seen some relatively young people have them because of close family members in retirement homes carried the virus to them. I can't say just how young. It is a highly contagious disease and I was told that just because I spent so much of my time around people with shingles, it is likely I too, will get them when I reach a certain age. Such is life. I understand they are very painful and itchy and I am not looking forward to it. Hope this helps some. Take care. :)

Answer 6

shingles is a rash disease that is a member of the herpes family. People who had chicken pox get shingles. This is because the chicken pox is a member of the herpes family and never actually leaves your body completely. Usually the cells containing it stick in a spot on your spinal cord and when you get old you may develop a rash in a band around your midsection from the spot where the chicken pox cells settled, this is the shingles.

Answer 7

"Shingles is a reactivation of the herpes zoster virus (varicella-zoster virus, or VZV). This same virus causes the childhood illness chickenpox. The chickenpox virus (varicella) remains in a dormant state in the body in the root of nerves that control sensation. In about 1 out of 5 people, the virus "wakes up," often many years after the chickenpox infection. The virus then travels along a sensory nerve into the skin causing a painful rash known as shingles. " lots more info click website address below

Answer 8

Shingles is an extremely painful re-occurance of the chicken pox virus.
When you have the chicken pox as a kid, the virus can lie dormant in the central nervous system, Later on in life something triggers the activation of this virus and it causes severe pain in nerves.

Answer 9

Shingles is a recurrence of chicken pox. Generally only older people, or people who are otherwise immunocompromised, get shingles. It can be very painful, and often appears as a scaly rash on the skin.

Answer 10

the same virus that causes chickenpox causes shingles.. once you get the pox the virus lays dormant in the base of the brain and stress can bring on an attack of shingles.