You can see a general practitioner, family medicine physician, internist, dermatologist, or neurologist for an evaluation. Starting antiviral medications as soon as symptoms arise, within 24 to 72 hours of the first sign of a rash the earlier, the better , can shorten the duration and severity of your illness and ease the pain of shingles.
Early treatment can also reduce the risk of complications. Postherpetic neuralgia, the most common shingles complication, causes persistent pain even after the rash disappears. Tell your doctor why you think it might be shingles.
If a diagnosis cannot be confirmed based on signs and symptoms, he or she can order tests to determine whether you have shingles. You cannot catch shingles from other people. But is shingles contagious?
Yes, people with active cases of shingles are contagious: They can give other people chickenpox. Both illnesses are caused by the varicella zoster virus. The virus is passed along through direct contact with fluid from blisters on the skin of people with shingles.
Taking special precautions can lower the risk of transmission. If you have shingles, keep your blisters covered with a non-stick dressing, avoid touching or scratching your rash, and wash your hands frequently to prevent the spread of the varicella zoster virus.
But the recovery period can take weeks. The U. Getting vaccinated against chickenpox and shingles can reduce your risk of contracting the varicella zoster virus. But there is a vaccine to help prevent it.
Food and Drug Administration approved a live zoster vaccine, marketed under the name Zostavax, in A single dose of vaccine is recommended for most people 60 and older, whether or not they have already had shingles.
In clinical trials, the vaccine cut the risk of shingles by half. The vaccine was even more effective in reducing the risk of postherpetic pain that lingers after shingles has disappeared. Even people who develop shingles after getting the vaccine benefit from getting a shot because their illness is likely to be shorter and less severe. The zoster vaccine is actually approved for adults 50 and older. However, it is not currently recommended for adults 50 to Current evidence suggests the vaccine provides 5 years of protection against shingles in adults 60 and older.
People who receive the vaccine before age 60 might not be protected when their risk for shingles and complications are highest. The vaccine is not recommended for people who allergic to gelatin, the antibiotic neomycin, or any other vaccine components.
Neither should women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant. Shingles looks as painful as it sounds. Red patches of skin covered in bumps eventually erupt into fluid-filled blisters that ooze before eventually drying out and crusting over.
The infected bands of skin typically wrap around one side of the body—left or right. Shingles mostly appears on the torso, face, and neck, but it has been known to pop up on an arm or leg. People with weakened immune systems often have shingles that stray from the typical band-like pattern.
Their shingles may be more widespread. People with severe cases of shingles may see permanent changes in the pigmentation of their skin once their blisters scab over and fall off. An episode of shingles generally lasts two to six weeks. Days later, a rash appears, usually in a single stripe across the left or right side of the torso or face. In rare cases, people can have shingles without developing a rash. You may have a headache, fever, chills, or nausea.
Fluid-filled blisters begin to appear and continue forming for a few days. It can take five to 10 days before the blisters dry out and form scabs. But you can minimize your risk by getting a shingles vaccine. The varicella zoster vaccine, marketed under the name Zostavax, has been shown to lower the risk of developing herpes zoster also known as shingles by more than half.
Among those who develop shingles despite getting a shot, the infection lasts for a shorter period of time, and symptoms are less severe. Causes Symptoms Home remedies Seeing a doctor Medical treatments Prevention We include products we think are useful for our readers.
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Adolescent depression: Could school screening help? Shingles typically follows the path of a single nerve and occurs on one side of the body. The blisters are commonly found on the torso and buttocks, but shingles may appear on the arms, legs, or face. Your healthcare provider will determine whether or not to use medication an antiviral to treat shingles.
Immediately consult a healthcare provider if the rash involves the eyes, gets red and drains pus, becomes very itchy and extremely painful, or if the rash lasts more than two weeks.
The most common complication from shingles is prolonged pain in the area of the rash that is called post-herpetic neuralgia PHN. The risk of shingles and PHN increase with advanced age. For some people, the pain of PHN can last for months or even years after the rash goes away. Two vaccines are licensed and recommended to prevent shingles in the United States.
Zoster vaccine live ZVL, Zostavax has been in use since Vaccine for shingles is recommended for adults age 50 and older. Epidemiologists monitor, track, and respond to infectious disease in the community to prevent spread of illness. Working with providers on the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases, illnesses and other factors relating to health. Health Topics. Topics associated with the health district's mission.
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