As the immune function of the elderly declines with age, herpes zoster is one of the common infectious diseases of the elderly, and its associated pain directly affects the quality of life of patients. February 26 to March 3 is the International Shingles Awareness Week, and experts remind that vaccination is an important means of preventing shingles in the elderly.
Herpes zoster, commonly known as "loincloth" and "snake loincloth", is an infectious disease caused by varicella-zoster virus. "It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is usually contracted in childhood, and the virus will still be lurking in the body after chickenpox has recovered. As we age, our immune system declines and the virus reactivates to cause shingles. Yuan Chengda, deputy director of the ** Department of Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said.
Experts say that age is an important risk factor for shingles, and people over 50 years old are prone to it, and the older they are, the more likely they are to develop the disease and the disease is more severe. The pain of shingles usually consists of three stages: pain before the rash appears, pain in the acute phase, and pain in the chronic phase.
It is known that about 70% to 80% of patients with herpes zoster will have prodromal pain, which mostly occurs at the site of subsequent rash appearance and is described as burning, electric shock, stinging or throbbing pain, and the pain can be continuous or intermittent. Acute pain such as burning, electric shock, and stab may be worse than labor pain, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic cancer pain, etc.
Pain that occurs more than 90 days after the appearance of the herpes zoster rash is chronic, and post-neuralgia can last for months or even years, and is more common in older and immunocompromised patients. Yuan Chengda said that shingles not only affects the patient's sleep, mood and work, but also some elderly people may lose their ability to take care of themselves, thereby increasing the financial burden on the family.
Experts said that vaccination is not only a matter of children, most of the elderly have chronic underlying diseases, especially susceptible to infection or infectious diseases, once infected will lead to the original fragile body "worse", adults, especially the elderly, increasingly need to be vaccinated to resist diseases and protect health.