PainCare - Pain Management in New Hampshire

What are shingles?

Shingles (herpes zoster) is an often very painful reactivation of childhood chicken pox (varicella zoster), typically affecting adults older than age 45, and has affected over half of all adults above the age of 60.  When a child has chicken pox, the rash, fever, cough, and fatigue clears up over a number of weeks, and health is restored.  Remnant virus particles not destroyed by the immune system can lie dormant in the nerve roots close to the spine for decades.  If the virus is reactivated at a later date, it travels along nerve pathways often to the skin.

Why would the chicken pox virus suddenly reappear decades later?

There is no clearly defined reason why the virus appears much later in life as shingles.  A normal reduction in immune response with age is thought to be a contributing factor. Other factors, such as illness, stress or medications, can perhaps trigger a reactivation of the virus; more often, no identifiable reason can be cited.