A recent study in Taiwan says that people who acquire shingles are more prone to suffer multiple sclerosis. It was found people who developed shingles had threat of being diagnosed with MS by four times within the subsequent year, in comparison to people who had never suffered shingles.
It is an agonizing condition occurred due to a reactivation of the virus, which causes chickenpox, called as varicella-zoster virus. Shingles typically starts with a burning pain or itch in one site on one side of the body, followed by a rash filled with fluid blisters. When chickenpox had occurred, the virus goes into a latent state.
The virus inhabits in nerve fibers of the body, but in some people the virus may reactivate and cause shingles. When the defensive coating surrounding nerve fibers starts to break down then MS happens, which slow down the communication of the brain t the rest of the body.
The symptoms of the condition may include fatigue and problem with balance and coordination of muscles. It can cause memory loss and difficulty with logical thinking in some people. Most of the people experience their first symptoms of MS in ages between fifteen and fifty. Whereas shingles is usually happens in elderly, but is not rare in younger people.
In a study researchers from Taipei Medical University Hospital analyzed a record from the insurer that covers ninety-eight percent population of Taiwan. They found more than three lakh people suffered shingles. Those were compared with nearly nine lakh and fifty thousand others with related traits, who did not have the disease.
Over the period of one year less than ten thousand in the group of shingles developed MS that was three times to the group without shingles. According to study author Dr. Jiunn-Horng Kang, this study does not show that shingles itself can cause MS, though there are several potential means that could explain why the two diseases are associated.
For example, shingles is linked to distractions to the immune system, which in turn might activate MS, added Dr Kang. In addition, a reactivation of the shingles virus may inflame a sequence of immune responses in the host which may be related with MS. The study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.