Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Shingles, Kimberly M. Holland

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Millions of people in the United States are effected by shingles each year. Shingles, which is also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus. The varicella zoster virus is what causes chicken pox. After a person is infected with chicken pox the virus lies dormant in the spinal and cranial sensory nerve ganglia. When the virus comes out of dormancy it travels down nerve axons affecting the skin in the area of the nerve endings. The prodromal phase is the time period before the rash appears where a person may experience itching, burning, …