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Shingles

Shingles is a painful skin rash, often with blisters. A shingles rash usually appears on one side of the face or body and lasts from 2-4 weeks.

Its main symptom is pain, which can be severe. Other symptoms of shingles can include fever, headache, chills, and upset stomach. Very rarely, a shingles infection can lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation (encephalitis), or death.

About one in five people experience severe pain that continues even after the rash clears up. Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Only someone who has had chickenpox can get shingles. Both diseases are caused by the same virus. The virus stays in your body and it can reappear many years later and cause shingles.

You can’t catch shingles from another person. However, a person who has never had chickenpox (or chickenpox vaccine) could get chickenpox from someone with shingles. This is not very common. Shingles is far more common in people aged 50 and older than in younger people. It is also more common in people whose immune systems are weakened because of a disease, such as cancer, or drugs, such as steroids or chemotherapy. In the US, at least 1 million people get shingles each year.

Scientific Term:

Herpes Zoster

Generic Term:

Shingles

Age Groups at Risk:

Adults

Fact Sheets:

• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)

Vaccine Info:

• Shingles Vaccine
   
• Vaccine Information Statements:
  • Shingles

Related Information:

• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
• Web Tutorial on Shingles

 

Last Update: 06/24/2008 02:38 PM