What are the symptoms of shingles?
Early symptoms of the disease include:
– Fever
– Chills
– Headache
– Fatigue
– Sensitivity to light
– Stomach upset
Other signs and symptoms that appear a few days after the first symptoms include:
– A feeling of itching, tingling, or burning in an area of the skin.
– Redness of the skin in the affected area.
– A raised rash on a small area of the skin.
– Fluid-filled blisters that rupture and then crust over.
– Mild to severe pain in the affected area of skin.
Complications of Shingles
Shingles is more than just a painful rash. It can lead to serious complications, such as post-herpetic neuralgia, bacterial infections in the blisters, and in rare cases, nerve paralysis or even the spread of the virus to other parts of the body, such as the brain, lungs or liver.
Prevention and treatment
The good news is that there is a vaccine to prevent the condition. The recombinant herpes zoster vaccine (RZV), known as Shingrix, significantly reduces the risk of developing the disease and its complications, according to the manufacturer.
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