All posts tagged: Shingles

More than a rash, a painful condition not to ignore

More than a rash, a painful condition not to ignore

Published by Sam Flores

Singapore sees an estimated 30,000 shingles cases annually. Adults aged 50 and above, whose immune systems tend to weaken with age, are more prone to developing shingles. They are also more likely to experience complications. About half report persistent nerve pain for at least a month after the rash first appears, while one in five experience it for more than six months*. BEYOND THE RASH: HOW SHINGLES IMPACTS DAILY LIVING For Mr Chen, the most unforgettable part was the itching and stinging pain. “It felt like ants were biting me, but I couldn’t scratch. It was unbearable,” said the 76-year-old.  In addition to the physical discomfort, shingles affected Mr Chen’s well-being and daily life. Throughout his three to four weeks of recovery, he experienced insomnia and low energy.  Mr Richard Low, 73, who is also part of the OG Gang, similarly did not realise at first that he had shingles. While on holiday in China about 13 years ago, a small red dot on his left eyelid grew over four days into a larger patch …

You Need to Be More Freaked Out by Shingles

You Need to Be More Freaked Out by Shingles

Published by skeptic

Like a lot of people, Ann Garner thought that shingles was a “mild” illness—until 2024, when she became sick with it herself. If she had known at the time that Norwegians call shingles helvetesild, literally meaning “hell’s fire,” or that the Arabic name for it translates to “belt of fire,” she might have been better prepared. Shingles (herpes zoster) is a common viral infection that causes a painful skin rash and can trigger post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), a form of long-term nerve pain that can last for years. The English name derives from the Latin for “girdle,” as the shingles rash most commonly occurs around the torso, although it can affect the face and eyes as well, as Garner discovered. One in three people will get shingles in their lifetime, but the risk rises sharply after 50 or for anyone with a weakened immune system. The disease is triggered by the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus, the same one that causes chickenpox when it first enters the body. The virus can lie dormant in a …

Shingles vaccines can spare you a painful illness : NPR

Shingles vaccines can spare you a painful illness : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Pain and itching can be early symptoms of shingles. triocean/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption triocean/iStockphoto/Getty Images Chad Bernhard knows the pain of shingles firsthand. The New York City-based audio instructor was in his mid-30s when he noticed a rash on the left side of his body and around part of his chest and his back. It itched and it wasn’t long before the itching turned into a sharp, stabbing pain, “kind of like the whole side of your body was being stung by hornets, continuously,” he says. Shingles is a re-activation of the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox. That virus lies dormant in our bodies for years after an infection, lurking in the root of a nerve. When it emerges again, the virus inflames that nerve, says Dr. Maria Carney, a geriatrician and executive director of the Northwell Aging Institute on Long Island. “And then it breaks through the skin and you get blisters and itching and burning and it can be very, very painful.” Around a third of Americans will get shingles …

‘Strong evidence’ of lowered dementia risk: the benefits of shingles vaccination | Well actually

‘Strong evidence’ of lowered dementia risk: the benefits of shingles vaccination | Well actually

Published by Sam Flores

One in three people in the US get shingles. Despite this, US vaccination rates remain low – about 35% of adults over 60, consistent with overall vaccination trends. “We have a vaccine that works really well,” says Dr Andrew Wallach, ambulatory care chief medical officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. “But there is a lot of what I call vaccine fatigue right now.” A growing body of evidence also suggests that shingles vaccination may lower the risk of dementia, stroke and heart attack. Here’s why experts say people should consider the shingles vaccination. What is shingles? Shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus stays in your body and can reactivate later in life as shingles at any age, though most commonly after 50. While caused by the same virus, shingles and chickenpox are not the same illness. They present differently because, while chickenpox is the initial infection, if and when the virus reactivates, it travels along nerve pathways to the skin, producing …

The Shingles Virus May Be Aging You More Quickly

The Shingles Virus May Be Aging You More Quickly

Published by skeptic

In 2010, a university lecturer from Colorado started experiencing worrying signs of cognitive decline. The lecturer—a 63-year-old viral immunologist whose identity has been kept anonymous—suffered alarming symptoms, including impaired memory, waning concentration, and difficulty reading. While giving lectures to students, he found he had difficulty focusing and was often unable to finish sentences without pausing. But medical tests, including a brain biopsy, failed to get to the source of the problem, and over the next four years, his symptoms continued to progress. His decline would have likely continued unabated had he not heard about a case of encephalitis—serious brain inflammation caused by a reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, most commonly associated with childhood chickenpox and, later in life, shingles. Remembering that his own symptoms had been preceded by a brief case of shingles, subsequent tests confirmed the patient had indeed experienced a reactivation of varicella-zoster. And so he decided to treat the problem with a course of acyclovir, an antiviral drug commonly prescribed to shingles patients. To his colleagues’ amazement, the Colorado lecturer’s symptoms quickly …

Shingles vaccine linked to slower biological aging, but brain markers show no change

Shingles vaccine linked to slower biological aging, but brain markers show no change

Published by José Betancourt

Getting a shingles vaccine is a standard recommendation for older adults looking to avoid a painful skin rash, yet new research suggests the benefits may extend much deeper into the body’s cells. A recent analysis indicates that receiving this immunization is associated with a slower rate of biological aging. The study suggests that the vaccine may help dampen systemic inflammation and keep cellular mechanisms looking younger. These findings were published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A. Most people measure their age by the number of birthdays they have celebrated. Scientists refer to this as chronological age. However, two people born in the same year can have vastly different health profiles. Biological age attempts to measure the actual wear and tear on the body’s tissues and systems. Jung Ki Kim and Eileen M. Crimmins, researchers at the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, led this investigation. They sought to understand if the shingles vaccine impacts the fundamental processes that drive aging. Previous research has hinted that certain adult vaccines might lower …