By: Whitley Morris and Brandi Hall

If so, contact your doctor immediately. You may have herpes zoster. Also known as shingles.

A painful, blistering skin rash due to the varcellas- zoster virus. Virus that causes chicken pox.

The first symptom of shingles is usually one-sided pain, tingling, or burning. Pain and burning my be severe and is usually present before the rash. Red patches on the skin, followed by small blisters, form in most people.

Abdominal pain Chills Difficulty moving muscles in face. Drooping eyelids General ill-feeling Genital lesions Headache Hearing loss Joint pain Loss of eye motion Taste problems Vision problems You may also have pain, muscle weakness, and a rash involving different parts of your face if shingles affects a nerve in your face.

Shingles may develop in any age group, but you are more likely if:  You are older than 60  You had chicken pox before age 1  You immune system is weaken by medications or disease. Shingles may also occur because of illness, trauma and stress.

Your doctor can diagnosis you by looking at the skin and reviewing your medical history. Test are rarely needed but may include taking a sample of your skin to see if it is infected. Blood test may show an increase in white blood cells and antibodies to the chicken pox virus but can not confirm the rash is due to shingles.

Doctor may prescribe you with an medicine that fights the virus, called an antiviral. Acyclovir, famciclovir and valacyclovir may be used. Acyclovir Famciclovir Valacyclovir

Scarring Bacterial skin infections Decrease or loss of vision or hearing Paralysis on one side of the face Muscle weakness Allodynia (pain from a source that would not normally cause pain � such as pain from a slight breeze over the skin or the touch of clothing on the skin) Long-term nerve pain called post herpetic neuralgia (PHN)

Pain, numbness, itching and tingling which lasts long after the rash vanishes. Can last months to years. Medications can prevent this if taken at an early stage.

deaths per year caused by shingles in the United States, 58 in Mexico and 54 in Germany % of people who have had chickenpox will eventually develop shingles. 3. Most likely to occur in people with HIV.

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