Shingles
Why it happens: Shingles is caused by the same virus behind chickenpox, herpes zoster. Following the initial infection, usually in childhood, the virus migrates to the nervous system and can lay dormant for decades before reemerging to trigger shingles.
Symptoms and treatments: Common symptoms at first include excruciating pain and numbness along one side of the body or face, followed by rashes and fluid-filled blisters. It takes weeks for these rashes to heal and scab over, and some sufferers can be left with lingering nerve pain where the rashes formed. There is no specific treatment for shingles, but people vaccinated against chickenpox as children are much less likely to develop it, while older adults who caught chickenpox naturally can get a separate vaccine for shingles that greatly reduces their risk of having it as well.
