Herpes zoster

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the back

Adult dermatome

Shingles

Herpes zoster (shingles) - close-up of lesion

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the arm

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the chest

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the hand and fingers

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the neck and cheek

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the hand

Herpes zoster (shingles), disseminated

Herpes zoster (shingles) on the back

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Herpes zoster

Alternative Names:

Shingles

Symptoms:

Warning symptoms of unilateral pain, tingling, or burning sensation limited to a specific part of the body -- pain and burning sensation may be intense
Reddening of the skin (erythema) followed by the appearance of blisters (vesicles)
Grouped, dense, deep, small blisters that ooze and crust

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

Fever, chills
General feeling of malaise
Headache
Lymph node swelling
Vision abnormalities
Taste abnormalities
Drooping eyelid (ptosis)
Loss of eye motion (ophthalmoplegia)
Hearing loss
Joint pain
Genital lesions (female or male)
Abdominal pain

Signs and tests:

Diagnosis is suspected based on the appearance of the skin lesions, and strengthened by a prior history of chickenpox or shingles. It can be confused with herpes simplex.

Tests are rarely necessary, but may include:

Viral culture of skin lesion
Tzanck test of skin lesion
Complete blood count (CBC) may show elevated white blood cells, a nonspecific sign of infection
Specific antibody (immunoglobulin) measurement demonstrates elevation of varicella antibodies

Review Date: 4/14/2004
Reviewed By: Daniel Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Infectious Diseases, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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