How long does shingles last in a child

Pediatric Herpes Zoster (Shingles) - Conditions and Treatments

Key Points About Shingles in Children

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful skin rash. It’s caused by the virus that causes chickenpox.
Shingles in children is not common.
The symptoms start with pain, burning, tingling or itching on one part of the face or body. The virus can then cause a red rash or small blisters, usually on one side of the body.
Treatment right away with antiviral medicine may help lessen how long the symptoms last and how serious they are.
If your child’s pain is severe, the healthcare provider may prescribe strong pain medicine.
There is a shingles vaccine for older adults but not for children. But a child who has had the chickenpox vaccine may have milder symptoms of shingles.

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful skin rash. It’s caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This is the same virus that causes chickenpox.
After a person has chickenpox, the virus stays in the body’s nerve cells but is inactive. Months or years later, the varicella-zoster virus can become active again. The virus can then cause a red rash or small blisters, usually on one side of the body. The rash or blisters spread along a nerve pathway where the virus was living.
Shingles in children is not common. A child is more at risk for shingles if either of these are true:
- They had chickenpox before age 1.
- The child’s mother had chickenpox very late in pregnancy.
- The child has a weak immune system from a health condition or certain treatments such as cancer therapy.
Children who get the chickenpox vaccine still have a small risk for shingles. But it may be a lower risk than after a chickenpox infection. And the symptoms may be less severe.
The symptoms start with pain, burning, tingling or itching on one part of the face or body. The rash can appear up to five days after these symptoms.
The shingles rash most often occurs on the torso and buttocks. It may also appear on the arms, legs, or face. The rash starts as small, red spots that turn into blisters. The blisters turn yellow and dry. The rash is usually only on one side or part of the body. It goes away in two to four weeks.
Your child may also have symptoms such as:
- Fever and chills
- Headache
- Nausea
The symptoms of shingles can be like other health conditions. Make sure your child sees a provider for a diagnosis.
The healthcare provider will ask about your child’s symptoms and health history. Your child will have a physical exam. Shingles can generally be diagnosed by the exam alone. Your child may also have tests, such as:
- Skin scrapings. The blisters are gently scraped to remove tiny samples. The samples are tested to check for the virus.
Treatment will depend on your child’s symptoms, age and general health. It will also depend on how severe the condition is.
Treatment right away with antiviral medicine may help lessen how long the symptoms last and how serious they are. These antiviral medicines work better the sooner they are started. Your child may be given acyclovir, famciclovir or valacyclovir. Talk with your child’s healthcare providers about the risks, benefits and possible side effects of all medicines.
Ask the healthcare provider about over-the-counter pain medicine. You may be able to give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever and discomfort. Don't give ibuprofen to a child younger than 6 months old, unless your healthcare provider tells you to. Don't give aspirin to children. Aspirin can cause a serious health condition called Reye syndrome.
If your child’s pain is severe, the healthcare provider may prescribe stronger pain medicine.
A shingles rash can get infected with bacteria, causing a skin infection (cellulitis). After the shingles rash is gone, the pain may continue for a long time. This is a complication called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Talk with the healthcare provider if your child’s pain stays after the rash goes away.
There is a shingles vaccine for older adults, but not for children. This is because shingles is more severe in older adults. But a child who has had the chickenpox vaccine may have milder symptoms of shingles. If your child has not had chickenpox, talk with the healthcare provider about the chickenpox vaccine.
Call the healthcare provider if your child has:
- Symptoms that don’t get better, or get worse
- New symptoms

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Shingles in children: Symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Shingles is an infection that causes a painful skin rash. However, it only develops in people who have previously had chickenpox. The rash and other symptoms usually disappear within a few weeks, but in rare cases, shingles can cause complications.

Shingles in children is rare. It only develops in people who have previously had chickenpox.

This article explains what shingles is, looks at the symptoms, and discusses how doctors diagnose and treat the condition. It will also outline the risk factors and explore how people can help prevent shingles.

Shingles, which doctors call herpes zoster, is an infection that causes a painful skin rash. It develops when something triggers the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in the body.

VZV is the virus that causes chickenpox. Once a person has recovered from chickenpox, VZV does not go away. It stays in the body and, in some people, can later reactivate to cause shingles.

In the United States, there are about four cases of herpes zoster for every 1,000 people each year.

Most of these cases occur in adults, as shingles in children is rare, affecting just 0.45 in every 1,000 individuals under the age of 14 years.

Shingles tends to start with a tingling sensation, itching, or stabbing pain on the skin.

Several days later, the person will develop a rash. This will usually start as a band or patch of raised dots. The rash can appear anywhere, but the most commonly affected areas are the face or the side of the torso.

These dots then turn into small blisters that fill with fluid. Over several days, these will dry out and crust over.

The rash can be itchy and painful, but symptoms can vary for everyone. For some people, the itch and pain will be mild, while symptoms can be more intense for others.

According to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, the rash and pain will usually last around 3–5 weeks.

During this time, children with shingles may also experience:

fever
chills
headache
feeling sick

Learn more about shingles pain.

Doctors tend to diagnose shingles by looking at the rash. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say it can be difficult to diagnose the condition in children.

Healthcare professionals may recommend a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. To do the test, they may either rub a swab on the rash or take a saliva sample.

The doctor then sends the sample to a laboratory for analysis.

A person with shingles cannot give another person the condition. However, people with shingles can pass on the VZV virus. And if they pass VZV to someone who has not had chickenpox, that person can develop chickenpox.

The virus spreads through the fluid that leaks from the blisters. If the child or their parent or caregiver can cover the rash, they can go to school or child care. If they cannot cover the rash, they should not go to school or child care until the blisters dry out and scab over.

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) recommends using loose clothing or a nonsticky dressing to cover the rash.

Learn more about how people contract shingles.

There is no cure for shingles, but not every child who develops shingles will need treatment.

Antiviral drugs can reduce the time it takes for the rash to disappear, although doctors do not usually prescribe them for healthy children.

Doctors may recommend acyclovir tablets or an acyclovir drip for children who are immunocompromised.

Over-the-counter pain medications can help ease the pain. Parents and caregivers should consult a doctor and follow the dosing instructions on the product label.

Applying a cool washcloth or calamine lotion to the rash can help ease the itching.

A person cannot get shingles from someone who has shingles, but they can get chickenpox.

Shingles usually only affects people who have had chickenpox in the past. In rare cases, shingles develops in children who have had the chickenpox vaccine. Doctors do not know what reactivates VZV, but some things make it more likely.

Risk factors for developing shingles include:

not having the chickenpox vaccine, also known as the varicella-zoster vaccine
having chickenpox in the first year of life
having a biological parent who developed chickenpox when pregnant
having a compromised or weakened immune system

Learn more about chickenpox in babies.

In most cases, children will recover from shingles completely. However, the condition can sometimes cause complications, which can include a bacterial infection in the rash blisters. It may also lead to postherpetic neuralgia, nerve pain that can last for months after the rash disappears.

Rarer complications include:

facial paralysis
meningitis
eye problems
pneumonia
hearing problems
encephalitis, which is brain inflammation

Shingles most often affects people who have had chickenpox. The best way to prevent shingles is to have the chickenpox vaccine.

To avoid spreading the virus to others, people with shingles can:

avoid direct contact with others
cover the rash
try not to touch or scratch the rash
clean their hands frequently

Some individuals are more at risk of developing severe shingles complications than others. It means that children with shingles should take extra care not to spread the virus when they are around them.

Those most at risk include:

babies less than 1 month old
pregnant people who have not had a chickenpox vaccine
people with immune conditions such as HIV and AIDS
individuals with compromised immune systems, such as those undergoing chemotherapy or recovering from an organ transplant

Children with shingles symptoms should speak with a doctor as soon as possible. Some rashes in children look similar to shingles but may have a more severe cause that needs treatment.

Some children may need antiviral medications for shingles. The medication works best when people take it within 3 days of the rash appearing.

In most children, the rash and pain from shingles will go away in around 3–5 weeks.

In some cases, children develop long-term complications of shingles, such as ongoing pain. However, these complications are rare.

Shingles causes a painful rash on the skin. It usually only develops in people who have previously had chickenpox, but it can affect individuals who have had the chickenpox vaccine. The condition is rare in children.

Shingles occurs when the chickenpox virus, VZV, reactivates. However, doctors do not know why this happens in some people.

In most cases, the rash and any associated pain will go away within a few weeks. Some children may develop complications, but these are rare.

There is no cure for shingles, but antiviral drugs can help reduce symptoms. These work best when a person takes them within a few days of the rash appearing. And while not everyone needs treatment for shingles, health experts recommend consulting a doctor to rule out other conditions.

Vaccination against chickenpox is the best way to prevent shingles in children.

10 facts about ringworm - TV channel Doctor

Of all the types of ringworm - the most noticeable, unpleasant and common among children. We have collected facts about him that all parents should know.

1. Ringworm is an inconspicuous beginning

Ringworm begins as a small, inconspicuous spot on the skin or head. It is easily confused with a mosquito or other insect bite. Gradually, the spot begins to grow and peel off, causing itching and a desire to scratch. If you do not pay attention to this stain, then others may soon appear, and if you wash in the bathroom with a sponge, then the whole body may become stained. Lichen on the skin has rounded and oval outlines, usually they are clearly defined, scaly scales are visible inside. On the scalp, lichen begins with a small focus 5-6 mm in size: the hair seems to be broken off. nine0003

If an animal becomes ill with deprivation, you may not suspect that you are petting an infected cat, because the incubation period for this disease is very long and the animal may look quite healthy, and after a week it will begin to shed and go bald. To make a diagnosis, the doctor examines the lichen spots using a special Wood's lamp: under its ultraviolet rays, the lichen glows emerald green. Also, a scraping of scales from the skin is taken from the patient - on the eve of this analysis, the stain cannot be treated with anything. nine0003

2. Ringworm is quarantine

Ringworm is a highly contagious fungal disease that affects the skin, nails and hair. Most often, they get sick with children who have touched a lichen cat or dog. But also ringworm can be transmitted through direct contact with the patient, when using shared hats, clothes, towels, toys and other items. Ideally, the patient should be isolated for the entire duration of treatment, and the entire apartment should be disinfected, and more than once. The incubation period is five to seven days if the infection came from an animal, and four to six weeks if the source was a human. Depending on the pathogen, there are two types of ringworm: trichophytosis and microsporia. nine0003

3. Ringworm lasts a long time

Ringworm is so contagious that the sick child is not allowed to attend school or kindergarten during the entire treatment, which can last from three weeks to several months. In difficult cases, when lichen affects the hair and is difficult to treat, the child is placed in the hospital for the entire course of treatment. They are discharged only when the person has gone through all the external signs of lichen and all three scrapings, which are taken weekly, showed a negative result. What should a parent do all this time? You can take a certificate for caring for a sick child, but this certificate of incapacity for work is issued only for 14 days. Then you will have to negotiate with your employer. You may have to take unpaid leave. nine0003

If an adult becomes ill with deprivation, a temporary disability certificate for an infectious form is issued for a period of 7–15 days. The issue of extending the sick leave is decided by the doctor.

4. Lichen is a lot of cleaning

When it becomes known that a family member has ringworm, a general cleaning with special agents that kill pathogenic fungi and spores is necessary. The patient's things are soaked in a disinfectant solution or boiled, it is recommended to quartz the room to kill all lichen spores. They are very tenacious and can live on surfaces for years without treatment, which can lead to reinfection or spread the disease to others. Upholstered furniture is recommended to be cleaned with a steam cleaner; chloramine or chlorhexidine is suitable for disinfection. The patient should sleep daily on a new pillowcase, put on new stretched and ironed clothes, and put the old clothes in a bag separately from other family members. He should have a personal bed, dishes, a towel, a comb and other personal items - they should not be used by other family members. After use, the patient's personal belongings are soaked in a disinfectant solution for three hours. In the patient's room, it is recommended to disinfect daily, then boil the rags or simply throw them away. nine0003

5. Lichen is not once

It is believed that lichen is very common: 90% of parents experience it at least once. But if children suffer from chickenpox once, then it’s more difficult with lichen: you can treat the baby and after some time find spots again if there is a re-infection. Immunity to the disease is not developed. But doctors say that not everyone gets lichen. For example, a mother sleeping in the same bed with a sick child may not catch the disease if she has strong immunity. nine0003

6. Lichen is a limitation

Man is a social being. Locking the patient in the house for three weeks is impossible, and not required. Doctors forbid visiting children's institutions, public baths, swimming pools, hairdressers, but you can and even need to go outside, because recovery is associated with immunity. Doctors have noticed that people with immunodeficiency, poor health, who are in chronic stress most often get sick with lichen. But the child will not be able to walk with his friends, play on his favorite playground, attend holidays and interesting events. Siblings will have to be separated so that the sick person does not infect the healthy one. Of course, if there is a free room and parents can provide such quarantine. nine0003

7. Lichen is noticeable

When treating ringworm, doctors usually prescribe iodine or fucorcin in combination with anti-flu ointments - thanks to them, inconspicuous spots get a bright color and it is almost impossible to hide them from others. This can create additional discomfort for the patient, who did not want to signal his problem so clearly. If there is a spot in the hair, and even more than one, then not everyone decides to go out into the street with such a head. It is not recommended to close the spots, especially if they are located on the neck and face - in this case, the lichen can go to the head and recovery will be delayed indefinitely. If a characteristic spot appeared on the neck of the owner of a long head of hair, doctors urge not to hide it under loose hair, but, on the contrary, to collect it in a tight bun. Washing and combing in the first days of treatment is not recommended. nine0003

8. Lichen is a disruption of all plans

You were planning a family vacation or paid for a camp for a child - and then you saw a characteristic spot. What to do? You will have to hand over tickets, cancel the trip, postpone all business and events. And if the child has just started going to school and classes? Again, everything will have to be postponed and treated. As soon as the child is diagnosed with lichen in the Dermatovenerological Dispensary (CVD), the educational institution will be informed about your problem and quarantine will be established. So it's not possible to move on quietly. This will have to be dealt with. nine0003

9. Lichen is a brain explosion

Let's say you are a responsible parent and honestly told the teacher that your child has lichen and you will be gone for three weeks. Well get ready, this is just the beginning. Expect a heated discussion of the problem in the chat among the parents of classmates. People will be in shock and panic, they will send a hundred messages and maybe even call the principal demanding to invite a dermatologist to the school, keep the patient out of the classroom, take urgent measures, switch to home schooling (depending on the degree of hysteria). If the director is strict, the classroom will be quarantined for 45 days. At this time, children will be let in from a separate entrance, not let out into the corridor during breaks, all lessons, including physical education, will be held in the classroom, and disinfection will take place daily. You may feel guilty or, depending on the strength of your nerves, simply surprised at how many problems arose because of one lichen cat that a child stroked in the country. What awaits the child after returning from quarantine is unknown. Whether classmates will tease him, whether he will fall behind the school curriculum, whether he will fall into the rank of outcasts - all this is very optional, but there will be experiences. You may even regret that you did not go to a private clinic, but registered with the KVD. nine0003

10. Lichen is in the past

In the old days, children infected with lichen were excluded from educational institutions, placed under house arrest or in isolated “lichen” shelter schools, where they could stay for years. In France, such children studied in special institutions on the territory of hospitals. Fortunately, these days, lichen is well treated. And the practice of placing young patients in hospital wards without parents is already becoming a thing of the past. Western doctors are no longer so strict in establishing quarantine for infected children. For example, a guideline for British doctors says that no isolation is required for ringworm: “Once the skin and scalp infection is treated, children can return to school. ” Doctors in Australia are ordered to exclude the child from school only "until the next day after the start of treatment." The validity of such a decision is also confirmed by analyzes: as soon as treatment is started, a scraping shows a negative result, the stain usually stops glowing. nine0003

You can greatly reduce your risk of contracting lichen by vaccinating your pets against it—usually two shots. Do not let your child stroke animals on the street, wear other people's hats, follow general hygiene - and lichen will forever be a thing of the past.

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