The Question How Do You Get Shingles
There are many people who do not understand a lot of facts about shingles. This is a common disease that affects the skin and also the nerves. The disease manifests itself in the form of rashes and also blisters. The disease is caused because of a virus that can spread from one person to another. The name of the virus that causes the disease is the Varicella Zoster Virus.
Though the disease is very similar to chicken pox and is caused by the same virus, there are certain variations between the two diseases. Chicken pox is a disease where the blisters and the rashes will disappear sooner than in shingles. In shingles, the skin lesions will take about a month or more to disappear completely. Even after the disease is gone, the person cannot be said to be completely cured. The reason for this is that the person may be prone to the disease again and again.
The virus is dormant in the body and so it can cause the disease again and again without any respite to the suffering individual. This brings us to the question as to how do you get shingles again and again. The reason is that the dormant virus will manifest again, when the person has some disease where the immune system is affected.
The immune system can be affected and compromised when the person suffers from diseases like cancer and also AIDS. Other than the presence of such diseases, the immune system can also be suppressed when the person is on certain drugs. The immunity of the human body can be suppressed because of the chemotherapy treatment. Other than the chemotherapy, the use of steroids can also cause the immune system to be down.
The Varicella Zoster virus that was lying dormant in the body will become active when the immune system is suppressed. Shingles can recur once more because of this. Every immune compromised situation will cause the disease in the person. The complete cure for the disease is not possible because of the fact that the virus is not completely expelled from the body of the person who has suffered from the disease at least once.
Though many people know that the disease can appear again and again, the mechanism behind the reason is not well known and this is the reason for the question as to how do you get shingles, being uppermost in the minds of people.
Medical questions are answered by Alan Chan, an expert. You can also learn how do you get shingles on his site.
