Shingles and Chickenpox (Varicella-Zoster Virus) - Symptoms

Symptoms

The time between exposure to the virus and eruption of symptoms is called the incubation period. For chicken pox, this period is 10 - 20 days. The patient often develops fever, headache, swollen glands, and other flu-like symptoms before the typical rash appears. While fevers are low grade in most children, some can reach up to 105° F.

These symptoms subside once the rash breaks out. One or more tiny raised red bumps appear first, most often on the face, chest, or abdomen. They become larger within a few hours and spread quickly, eventually forming small blisters on a red base. The numbers of blisters vary widely. Some patients have only a few spots, others can develop hundreds. Each blister is filled with clear fluid that becomes cloudy in several days. It takes about 4 days for each blister to dry out and form a scab. During its course, the rash itches, sometimes severely. Usually separate crops of blisters occur over 4 - 7 days, and the entire disease process lasts 7 - 10 days.

Chickenpox itself usually occurs only once, although mild second infections, marked by the telltale rash, have been reported in older children years after their first infection.

Symptoms of a Typical Shingles (Herpes Zoster) Attack

Shingles nearly always occurs in adults. It develops on one side of the body. Usually two, and sometimes three, identifiable symptom stages occur:

• The first is known as the prodrome, a cluster of warning symptoms that appear before the outbreak of the infection.
• The second stage comprises the symptoms of the active infection itself.
• In many patients, a third syndrome known as postherpetic neuralgia develops.

One form of shingles is known as zoster sine herpes, in which pain occurs first without a rash. Pain is so common to all stages of herpes zoster that doctors often refer to all syndromes with a single term: Zoster-Associated Pain (ZAP).

Prodrome (Pain).

• Pain is the primary early symptom for shingles, and it occurs in all patients. The pain most often occurs in the skin at the site of the re-activated virus. The pain may be experienced as sharp, aching, piercing, tearing, or similar to an electric shock.
• The affected skin may itch, feel numb, and be unbearably sensitive to touch. Often the patient experiences a combination of these sensations along with pain.
• In addition, some patients may have flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches. (Some people have fever, but it is uncommon.)