What causes Shingles?

Causes of shingles

Shingles also known as Herpes zoster is caused by the virus herpes varicella-zoster or simply zoster. It is an infection of a nerve and the part of skin around it.
Chicken pox is also caused by the same virus. Most of us get chickenpox in our childhood but after we recover, the virus remains dormant in our nervous system.

Our immune system works to stop the virus from becoming active. However, later in life it may get reactivated in our body, causing shingles. The virus lives in our body quietly without leaving until some stress to the system brings it out in the open. Usually sign of shingles is a characteristic skin rash, indicating inflammation of the nerves set off by the underlying virus.

According to Med lexicon’s medical dictionary, herpes zoster (shingles) is "an infection caused by a herpes virus (varicella-zoster virus), characterized by an eruption of groups of vesicles on one side of the body following the course of a nerve due to inflammation of ganglia and dorsal nerve roots resulting from activation of the virus, which in many instances has remained latent for years following a primary chickenpox infection; the condition is self-limited but may be accompanied by or followed by severe post- herpetic pain."

No one knows what causes the chickenpox virus to become reactivated to cause shingles. Some investigators believe that the following conditions may trigger virus reactivation.This is only a list that might trigger reactivation, but have as yet not been proven to do so:

• Weakened immune system from another illness such as cancer, AIDS, or even from decreased immune function related to normal ageing.
• It can arise from weak immune function related to stress, over work and late nights
• Treatment such as chemotherapy also can compromise the immune system and invite a shingles attack
• People over fifty are more vulnerable as their immune system is deteriorating, and shingles most often appears in people over fifty
• Stress and fatigue also might add to the reactivation of virus
• Researchers in Texas have found that people with a family history of shingles may be more susceptible to reactivation of virus in the nerves
• A group of German scientists found that some arthritis drugs may be linked to an increased risk of developing shingles

Most often, shingles occurs only once. However, it can reoccur in some cases and the cause is not known. If someone who has never had chicken pox can get infected (person will get chicken pox and not shingles) by a person with shingles, which happens with the direct contact with the open sores of the shingles rash. A person who has already had chicken pox and has a normal immune system cannot become infected by a person with shingles.

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