Recently, there is a disease that actor Ma Dong-seok has declared as an ‘enemy of immunity’ in TV commercials. Shingles often occurs during the change of seasons when the daily temperature difference is severe. Today, we will look at the questions most often asked by patients about what kind of disease shingles is and how to prevent it.
1. What kind of disease is shingles and who gets it?
Shingles is a viral skin disease caused by the Varicella-Zoster Virus, a type of herpes virus (herpes type 3) that penetrates the nerves and causes pain along with rashes or blisters on the skin.
It is often caused by a decrease in immunity due to old age, but if a young person is infected, it is usually caused by overwork or a decrease in immunity due to severe stress. However, it is rare that the cause is stress, and a nutritional imbalance due to an excessive diet or the habit of filling one meal with carbohydrates (ramen noodles, cereal milk), and the habit of simply eating excess carbohydrates without eating fat or minerals (fruit). , vegetables) In most cases, immunity is low. In addition, there are cases where immunity weakens due to lack of physical activity, so it can be seen that the usual lifestyle affects the awakening of the latent virus.
Recently, a research paper was also published stating that the risk of developing herpes simplex or shingles in relation to a COVID-19 infection has increased. Another study reported that the risk of developing herpes zoster was about 15% higher in the confirmed group of COVID-19. 19 unconfirmed patients, and in particular, the risk increased to 21% in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.
According to the British NHS website, around 1 in 4 people experience shingles, and in Korea, according to the National Health Insurance Corporation, 1 in 3 people have the disease, and two thirds of all patients over 60 years of age and women are 1.6 times more likely than men. The number of patients, which was 480,000 in 2010, increased significantly to 750,000 in 2018. In addition, neuralgia after skin disease appears in 1 in 4 people, and the probability increases with age.
2. How do you get shingles?
The identification of the shingles virus is the varicella virus, which has been infected at least once as a child. After causing chicken pox in childhood, the chicken pox virus remains dormant in the dorsal root ganglion, which forms the spinal cord. . So, if you haven’t had the chicken pox, the shingles doesn’t happen until you die, and it’s impossible to cure it because it repeats incognito and starts as herpes. If you have had chicken pox, you need to maintain your immunity to avoid getting shingles.
So in theory, if you’ve never had chicken pox, you shouldn’t have it. However, in the case of the elderly, the quarantine status was not good when they were at school, and even if it was not expressed as chicken pox, it is recommended to be vaccinated as much as possible because only the virus can remain asleep and sudden. appeared due to its unique infectiousness. This vaccination refers to the shingles vaccine, not the chicken pox vaccine.
3. Are the symptoms of shingles just blisters and pain? You say it hurts a lot, but how much?
Shingles usually causes symptoms along the nerve trunk near the waist or lower chest, but in reality, it is a skin disease that can occur all over the body such as athlete’s foot.
The main symptoms include red spots, blisters, pustules, scabs, skin paresthesia, headache, and pain. In the beginning, red spots appear around the skin, then turn into blisters and spread to the entire skin along the nerve trunk. As these blisters are created along the nerve trunk, they feel hot and quite painful when touched, but one or two in 10 people have no pain at all, and some feels itchy like an insect bite. Of course, treatment should not be neglected just because the pain is less. Although acute pain is not severe, there are cases where severe pain begins as neuralgia begins to take root.
And this pain can vary from person to person, but in the worst case, it becomes a strong pain that cannot be tolerated with over the counter painkillers. In particular, the most severe pain is the head, and in severe cases, you can feel the pain as if you were hit in the head with a hammer. Even in this case, the pain can come as if it was taken out not only in the wrist but also in the arm and the elbow and the shoulder.
Therefore, it can occur on almost any part of the body’s surface from the scalp to the soles of the feet, and usually occurs most often in the abdomen and armpits near the chest, followed by the eyelids, the nose and the forehead. Occasionally, it occurs in the eyeball. In this case, vision deteriorates and spreads to the pupil, which can lead to blindness. If it spreads to the brain, is a dangerous skin disease that causes meningitis.
4. What is the difference between shingles and herpes simplex?
Blisters, or blisters, occur in both diseases, but are easily differentiated by location and pain.
Herpes simplex occurs in clusters of small blisters, and recurrence is common. Herpes simplex is divided into type 1 and type 2. Type 1 occurs around the lips, type 2 occurs around the genitals, and type 2 is classified as a sexually transmitted disease. In most cases, the symptoms and complications are not serious.
On the other hand, shingles appears anywhere on the body along the dermatome and is most common on the trunk. The biggest difference from herpes simplex is that it is accompanied by pain rather than itching. Even after the blisters subside, the pain continues for more than 1 to 3 months, so early diagnosis and treatment is very important.
5. Don’t blisters turn into scars?
If the symptoms of herpes simplex and shingles are severe, the blisters may later progress to ulcers or scabs, leaving scars as they heal. It should be noted that even if the blisters are not deep, temporary pigmentation may occur at the site where the blisters formed.
6. Is shingles contagious to other people?
When a shingles patient occurs in a family member who lives with you, you become very concerned whether you are contagious to other family members or not, but the conclusion is “It can be contagious.”
However, it is not contagious to others in the form of shingles, and the chicken pox virus is contagious to the body. As the varicella virus is contained in the shingles blisters, it can be transmitted by direct contact with r skin. In other words, the chicken pox virus in the blisters can be transmitted to a person who has a weakened immune system and does not have the chicken pox virus themselves. For those who have already had chicken pox as a child, it may be considered irrelevant because they already have the virus in their body, but the problem is that babies who do not have the chicken pox virus are at risk of being infected with the virus chicken pox. It is characterized by the onset of systemic urticaria, like chicken pox, rather than appearing as a form.
Therefore, as it is fatal to those with low immunity, pregnant women, and infants, patients with shingles should avoid contact with it, and it is recommended to refrain from public baths or swimming pools that expose the body until the symptoms improve.
7. How is shingles treated?
Like a stroke or myocardial infarction, shingles also has a golden time, but it is true that symptoms occur and that treatment within 3 days reduces complications. Taking antiviral drugs within 3 days of blistering is usually the fastest treatment, and creams used for herpes simplex are not very helpful. It is important to actively treat shingles because the appearance and pain of blisters can get worse as time goes by, and if not treated properly, there is a high possibility that scars will remain after the neuralgia or blisters disappear after the an eagle In other words, the goal of treatment should be to reduce pain, prevent the spread of skin lesions, and reduce postherpetic neuralgia. Immunosuppressed patients may require intravenous therapy.
In addition, since shingles itself is caused by a decrease in immunity, using antiviral creams and tablets does not cure it immediately. It is important to get enough rest if you get herpes.
8. Do many people suffer from neuralgia after shingles?
One of the reasons why shingles is a terrible disease is postherpetic neuralgia. “Postherpetic neuralgia”, where pain continues even after the skin symptoms of shingles have disappeared, occurs when the chicken pox virus damages the nerves. In other words, after suffering from chicken pox, the varicella-zoster virus hides in the spinal nerves. If the immune system is weakened, this virus travels to the ganglion and damages the skin, causing blisters. Because of this, even taking antiviral drugs can lead to neuralgia.
The likelihood of suffering from neuralgia increases with age. Around 60% of those in their 60s and 70% of those in their 70s are likely to develop neuralgia and suffer for a long time, but it gets better. gradually over time, and approximately 50% of patients Improvement occurs within 3 months, and approximately 70% of patients show improvement within a year.
As such, the pain can last for a long time and in some cases it can be debilitating, so if postherpetic neuralgia is severe, anesthesia and pain medication treatment becomes very important. In the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, you can receive a lot of help because it focuses on preventing further nerve damage and breaking the pain cycle, such as nerve block, continuous nerve block, and ketamine-lidocaine injection.
9. How often does shingles recur?
The recurrence rate of shingles is not high, around 5%. There are many causes of relapse, but the main cause is a weakening of the immune system. Patients with chronic diseases, old age, or post-herpetic neuralgia for a long time are very likely to relapse, so they must be careful and must be vaccinated to reduce the possibility of their recurrence.
10. Is there a way to prevent shingles?
Fortunately, shingles can be prevented with a vaccine. Newer vaccines are recommended for adults over 50, but adults under 50 (including immunocompromised people over 18) can also get it and should receive two doses two months apart.
In addition, a grace period of at least six months after shingles was required for previous vaccines, but recent vaccines can be given immediately after the acute symptoms have passed. After two vaccinations, the prevention effect of around 90% or more is said to last for 10 to 20 years, so it is worth considering vaccination at this opportunity.
Shingles, an enemy of immunity, is also a disease that can be adequately prevented by vaccination. You reading this article may also be eligible for a shingles vaccination, so check it out today and prevent it early.
▲ Beom Hye-min, director of the Hyangnam Sympathy Council ⓒ Hwaseong Citizen Newspaper
Copyright holder (c) Ohmynews (citizen reporter), unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
