What is neuroherpeticum and what are the symptoms?

Many people only have a vague understanding of herpes. Many are afraid of herpes because they don't know enough about it. In fact, herpes is not scary. As long as it is discovered early, it can be effectively treated. So what is neuroherpes zoster?

1. What is shingles?

Commonly known as "waist dragon", "waist fire dan", "snake entanglement", "snake disc sores", etc., it is caused by varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which is transmitted through the respiratory tract or contact with secretions. The initial infection occurs as chickenpox (in children) or latent infection (no symptoms). Our human body cannot completely eliminate this virus. The virus is neurotropic and generally lurks in the spine or brain ganglia. Later, when the human body's immunity is reduced, tired, infected, or cold, it will be activated again, causing the virus to move along the nerve fibers to the skin, resulting in a strong inflammatory response (pain, erythema, clustered blisters, paresthesia, etc.) in the invaded nerves and skin, and when the disease occurs, it manifests as shingles.

2. Who is more likely to get shingles? Who will have more severe symptoms?

People of all ages can get the disease (children usually get chickenpox, but shingles is also common), and it is especially prone to the elderly, women, people over 50 years old, those with low or defective immunity, and those who have recently been overly tired. In clinical practice, young people who stay up late or patients who over-exercise in the gym are often encountered.

The older the age, the more serious the disease; people with immune deficiencies such as HIV infection are prone to disseminated herpes zoster.

3. What are the symptoms of herpes zoster?

In the early stage, it usually manifests as pain somewhere on one side of the body, sometimes accompanied by fever, some people experience itching or severe itching, or pain and itching, or hypersensitivity, or no feeling (more common in children). Later, erythema, papules, and clustered blisters appear in the painful or abnormal sensory area. In severe cases, bullae, blood blisters, or gangrenous ulcers may appear. If there is only pain in the early stage, and there are no erythema or blisters on the skin, it is very easy to misdiagnose as a disease in other departments such as trigeminal neuralgia, migraine, angina pectoris, low back pain, abdominal pain, etc.

Because the nerves innervate the dermatomes, clinically, it is mostly unilaterally distributed in a band-like manner, and bilateral distribution is rare.