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What is Shingles (Herpes Zoster)?
Shingles (Herpes Zoster) is a painful skin disease caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox virus (varicella-zoster). After an attack of chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in the nerve tissue. As we get older, it is possible for the virus to reappear in the form of shingles – painful rashes, blisters, and sores similar to chickenpox.
The virus responsible for shingles and chickenpox belongs to a group of viruses called herpes. Herpes viruses have two main characteristics: they stay with you for life, and they cause spreading skin eruptions. The virus that causes chickenpox and shingles fits that description perfectly.
Common types of herpes includes the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores, fever blisters (HSV1), mononucleosis, genital herpes (HSV2) — a sexually transmitted disease, and the Epstein-Barr virus involved in infectious mononucleosis. Shingles is caused specifically by the Herpes Zoster virus.
Like the shingles-causing virus, many other herpes viruses can take refuge in the nervous system after an individual has suffered an initial infection. These viruses may remain latent for years, then travel down nerve cell fibers to cause a renewed infection.
Who Gets Shingles?
While shingles occurs in people of all ages, it is most common in 60- to 80-year-olds. Shingles is estimated to affect 20-50% of people in their lifetime. This year, more than 500,000 people will develop shingles. Fortunately, scientists are doing research to find a vaccine to prevent the disease.
If you have had chickenpox, you are at risk for developing shingles. Conversely, you can only get shingles if you have had chickenpox. Shingles is also more common in people with weakened immune systems from HIV infection, chemotherapy or radiation treatment, transplant operations, and stress.
A person who is suffering from a disease that damages the immune system, or who is taking anticancer drugs that suppress the immune system, is a prime candidate for an attack of shingles. Even among healthy individuals, temporary depression of the immune system because of stress, a cold, and even sunburn may be associated with an attack of shingles.
Most cases of shingles occur in adults. Only about 5 percent of cases occur in children. With children, immune deficiency is the primary risk factor, but children who had chickenpox before they were one year old may also get shingles before they become adults. Youngsters whose mothers had chickenpox late in pregnancy — 5 to 21 days before giving birth — are also vulnerable to shingles. Sometimes these children are born with chickenpox or develop a typical case within a few days.
There have been studies of adults who had chickenpox as children and were later exposed to children who had chickenpox. Interestingly, that exposure apparently boosted the adult's immunity, which actually helped them avoid getting shingles later in life.
Source: NIH
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