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Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, [6] is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. [2] [7] Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. [1]
The heterophile antibody test is a screening test that gives results. Serological tests take longer time, but are more accurate. Infectious mononucleosis is generally self-limiting , so only symptomatic or supportive treatments are used.
The two most prominent infections of GAS are both non-invasive: strep throat (pharyngitis) where it causes 15–30% of the childhood cases and 10% of adult cases, and impetigo. [4] These may be effectively treated with antibiotics. Scarlet fever is also a non-invasive infection caused by GAS, although much less common.
It causes chickenpox (varicella) commonly affecting children and young adults, and shingles (herpes zoster) in adults but rarely in children. As a late complication of VZV infection, Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2 may develop in rare cases. VZV infections are species-specific to humans. The virus can survive in external environments for a few hours.
Herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO), also known as ophthalmic zoster, is shingles involving the eye or the surrounding area. Common signs include a rash of the forehead with swelling of the eyelid. There may also be eye pain and redness, inflammation of the conjunctiva, cornea or uvea, and sensitivity to light.
A zoster vaccine is a vaccine that reduces the incidence of herpes zoster (shingles), a disease caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus, which is also responsible for chickenpox. [8] Shingles provokes a painful rash with blisters, and can be followed by chronic pain ( postherpetic neuralgia ), as well as other complications.
Laboratory tests include culture of the virus, direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) studies to detect virus, skin biopsy, and polymerase chain reaction to test for presence of viral DNA. Although these procedures produce highly sensitive and specific diagnoses, their high costs and time constraints discourage their regular use in clinical practice.
The early symptoms in adolescents and adults are nausea, loss of appetite, aching muscles, and headache. [17] This is followed by the characteristic rash or oral sores, malaise, and a low-grade fever that signals the presence of the disease. Oral manifestations of the disease (enanthem) not uncommonly may precede the external rash (exanthem).