They stressed that person with weak immune system are often more at risk of the health condition, noting that this may be connected to why more cases of shingles are seen among the elderly.
Shingles also known as herpes zoster is a viral infection that occurs due to the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (the virus that causes chickenpox).
Speaking with our correspondent, the experts, Consultant Dermatologist, Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta, Lagos, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinsiku, and the Chief Medical Director, Fesock Hospital, Lagos, Dr. Charles Ogueri explained that the disease often comes with pain, noting that it is usually characterised by painful rashes.
Shingles, they noted, can cause severe and long-lasting pain that couls be very difficult to treat.
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise, Dr. Akinsiku said that shingles occurs because of the failure of the immune system to contain latent varicella zoster infection, adding that presentation depends on the immune status.
Dr. Akinsiku explained that people who have had no prior exposure to the condition must have had chicken pox, adding that this is the common presentation in children.
She said: “The reactivation occurs years after primary infection in the setting of immunosuppresion such as diabetes, HIV, use of steroids or other drugs that suppress immunity, concurrent illness and sometimes due to old age.
“Shingles is usually painful and occurs along a dermatome( an area of skin supplied by nerves from the same spinal root). This pain is followed after some days(between 1-10 days) by an eruption of vesicles along that same dermatome.
“The pain associated with shingles can sometimes be self-limiting lasting about two weeks but it can also be severe (this is the more common form) and persistent long after the rashes have cleared. It can be associated with headache, photophobia, myalgia and other symptoms depending on the part of the body affected.
The rash, she added, can take up to a month to heal completely, adding that the pain usually persists for more than a month after the rash has even cleared.
Dr. Akinsiku, however, noted that not everybody who had chicken pox would eventually get shingles.
“It is important to state that not everybody who has had chickenpox will develop herpes zoster. Herpes zoster develops when the immune system is unable to contain the varicella-zoster virus due to immunosuppresion from any cause ranging from stress to various illnesses.
