WHAT IS SHINGLES?
This painful rash is the result of a lingering virus
WORDS AILSA HARVEY
Shingles is a viral infection that can emerge anywhere on the body in the form of a painful, blistering rash. Usually, the rash forms as a stripe that wraps around one side of the body. What makes this viral infection different from many others that you may have experienced is that you don’t contract the virus immediately prior to getting shingles symptoms. Instead, it has been living inside you, and could have been there for many decades. This is because shingles is a result of the varicella-zoster virus – the same one that causes chickenpox.