Dermatology >>>> What you need to know about herpes zoster

What you need to know about herpes zoster.

Disease Herpes zoster (common name "Shingles", Latin name "Herpes zoster") does not arise from scratch, the prerequisites for its development are a number of factors: a weakened immune system, hypothermia, chronic fatigue, chronic intoxication (chronic viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic infections), blood diseases, neoplasms. In general, all factors that in one way or another weaken the work of the immune system can become prerequisites for the disease, as well as the transferred Chickenpox (for example, in childhood), which is considered as a stage preceding the possible future development of Herpes zoster. This is due to the fact that Herpes Zoster Virus, Varicella zoster, is identical to the virus that causes Chickenpox. The disease affects people of both sexes and any age group, but it has been noticed that children under ten years old get sick with herpes zoster is extremely rare.

Herpes zoster virus is a filtering dermatoneurotropic virus that can move along nerve fibers, and accordingly, branches of nerves belonging to the peripheral nervous system. Despite the fact that most often, according to statistical data, the Varicella zoster virus moves and affects the parts of the nervous system that innervate the back and lumbar region, or rather, the intercostal nerve fibers, it can affect the branches of the facial nerve and have an extremely painful effect in the area of the branches trigeminal nerve affecting the face.

Although herpes zoster refers to recurrent chronic infections, its relapses occur in those who have recovered only in 5% of cases, in other cases the disease causes persistent immunization of the body. Repeated relapse of herpes zoster can signal immunodeficiency conditions, including those associated with the development of cancer (precancer, cancer, leukemia), as well as AIDS and severe viral hepatitis. In people whose body is weakened by severe diseases, not only relapses of herpes zoster can be observed, but also generalized damage to parts of the peripheral nervous system can develop. Some people who have been ill may have pain symptoms (neuralgic pain) after a time after complete cure. This is due to the fact that the inflammatory processes in the nerve fibers affected by the virus disappear much more slowly than the visible skin reactions to the presence of the virus.

Typical signs of the development of herpes zoster is the appearance of pain in the affected area a few days before the appearance of visible skin rashes. Pain syndrome resembles neuralgic pain and may be accompanied by an increase in body temperature. At night, the pain sensations intensify. During the appearance of a herpetic rash on the skin, the pain sensations decrease in intensity.

The pain syndrome and the corresponding rashes are usually localized unilaterally, along the direction of the nerve fibers. In cases where the branches of the facial nerve are affected, rashes can be located both on the skin of the face (on one side of the face along the branches of the trigeminal nerve), and on the mucous membrane from the side of the oral cavity (they can affect the lips, cheeks, tongue, palate of the upper jaw - along the course of the anastomoses of the trigeminal nerve).

The difference between herpes simplex rashes and herpes zoster rashes is their one-sided localization in the case of the latter. Rashes are formed in stages and in groups. Outwardly, the rash looks like erythema (redness) turning into vesicles with serous contents inside, which from transparent turns into cloudy and dries up with a crust (scallop). This process is followed by another rash, which is "resolved" in the same way. There can be several stages of rashes, for this reason, the area affected by herpes zoster looks diverse: erythema and vesicles are interspersed with crusts and erosive lesions. In cases of a severely weakened organism (an extremely weakened immune system), a gangrenous form of the course of the disease may develop, when the rashes are not formed in the form of bullous vesicles, but in the form of abscesses, followed by the formation of ulcers and scarring of the skin at the site of the rash.

The course of the inflammatory process is prolonged in time and can last up to five weeks. Each new rash is preceded by an extremely severe pain syndrome, and at the end of the inflammation, the pain subsides, but due to the fact that the rash occurs in stages, the pain symptom seems to be practically unabated.

Herpes zoster is treated whether the rash goes away or continues. Treatment begins with taking painkillers to relieve the patient's condition. Immunostimulants are used (preparations containing leukocyte interferon and interferonogens). Further, the treatment tactics are correlated with the observed skin lesions (external symptomatic therapy) and support the body with fortifying agents (vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin A). Therapeutic treatment aims to shorten the development of the disease and to alleviate the difficult-to-tolerate pain effect created by the herpes zoster virus. Therapy with external therapeutic agents is aimed at rapid effective healing of the skin with minimization of the residual effects of the disease, which can leave age spots or scars (as in Smallpox) in severe cases of the course of the disease.

There is a prevention of herpes zoster - vaccination. Vaccination against herpes zoster is carried out according to indications.