What Is The Causative Agent Of Shingles

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Herpes Zoster (Shingles)

What Is Shingles? Shingles is a very painful disease caused by the same herpes virus that causes chicken pox (varicella zoster virus). Like other herpes viruses, the varicella-zoster virus has an initial infectious stage, (chicken pox) followed by a dormant stage. Then, with no warning, the virus becomes active again. About 20% of people who have had chicken pox will eventually develop shingles. This reactivation of the virus is most likely to...

Ask the Experts

shingles?

what causes shingles...

Response from Judith Feinberg, M.D.

University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine

Shingles is caused by reactivation of a prior infection with the virus that causes chicken pox, Varicella zoster virus. Once you are infected with Varicella, it remains dormant ('asleep')in your body; even though the chicken pox symptoms... Read more »

Shingles

Can you get shingles from having sex with someone who has it?...

Response from Brian Conway, M.D.

University of British Columbia

Shingles is caused by a herpes virus called varicella zoster virus, and causes typical vesicular (or blistering) rashes anywhere on the body. It is generally transmitted by the airborne route rather than by direct contact.This is a relative of... Read more »

shingle relief

What is the most effective treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia?...

Response from Keith Henry, M.D.

University of Minnesota, School of Medicine

No treatment works consistently well in everybody. Elavil and Neurontin are often helpful as are reasonable use of analgesics such as tylenol, motrin, or narcotic agents. Some people get some relief with analgesic ointments. The pain often... Read more »

HIV Testing in Criminal Cases For Causation

Hello. I am a Public Defender in a State which has recently passed a law making it a criminal offense to expose another to the HIV virus without conveying that information to the other person. The law carries up to 30 years in prison for the...

Response from Mark Holodniy, M.D., F.A.C.P., C.I.C.

Stanford University, School of Medicine

There is no FDA approved test to "type" viruses. However, there are DNA fingerprinting techniques that can be used to show sequence homology (relatedness) between viral strains. This is usually done by analyzing the HIV envelop or... Read more »

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Researchers identify promising agents for HIV cure

Posted by optimistic2009

Researchers from the University of North Carolina and Merck are identifying promising new leads in the search for agents that may be able to purge HIV from resting CD4 cells, a key requirement for any prospect of a cure for HIV infection.

The... Read more »

Can I get Shingles from another Poz guy if I had ?

Posted by Anonymous, 1 Reply

Can I get shingles from another poz person even if I already had them myself in the past??? Read more »

My sister is HIV+ and has shingles

Posted by Anonymous, 3 Replies

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with HIV and shingles. She's been fighting the shingles now for about 5 months and they'll just start to go away and then come back again. She was very thin for a while, but looked really good and had... Read more »

Shingles

Posted by Anonymous, 3 Replies

Someone told me that shingles is one of the first indications of being HIV positive. I had shingles in 2002, and has felt fine since then. Although I do occassionally get dandruff. I had a dermatologist take a scalp sample and he said it was... Read more »

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