What is Shingles? Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by a virus. This virus is the same one that causes chickenpox. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus stays in your body but remains inactive. Years later, the virus can wake up and cause shingles. The shingles rash usually appears as a stripe of blisters on one side of your body. Before the rash shows up, you might feel pain, itching, or tingling in that area. The rash typically forms blisters that crust over within 7-10 days and usually heal within 2-4 weeks. Shingles can affect anyone who has had chickenpox, but it's more common in older adults and people with weak immune systems. Some people may experience long-lasting nerve pain, known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) after the rash has healed. What Causes Shingles? Shingles happens when the chickenpox virus (called varicella-zoster virus) that's been hiding in your nerve cells wakes up. Doctors aren't entirely sure why the virus wakes up in some people, but several things can increase the risk: Getting older (your immune system naturally weakens with age) Having diseases that weaken your immune system, like HIV/AIDS or cancer Taking medications that suppress your immune system Being under a lot of stress Having an injury in the area where the rash appears You can only get shingles if you've had chickenpox before. If you've never had chickenpox, you can't get shingles. However, if you're around someone with shingles, you could catch chickenpox if you've never had it. Can You Get Shingles More Than Once? Yes, you can get shingles more than once, although it doesn't happen very often. Most people who have had shingles won't get it again. About 1-6 out of 100 people might have shingles a second or third time in their life. The risk of getting shingles again is higher for people with: Weak immune systems Other health problems A severe first case of shingles Lasting nerve pain after their first bout of shingles What Makes Shingles Come Back? Several things can make shingles more likely to come back: Age As you get older, your immune system gets weaker, making it harder for your body to keep the virus inactive. Weak Immune System People with conditions like HIV/AIDS, cancer, or those taking medicines that weaken the immune system (like steroids or chemotherapy) have a higher risk. Genetics Some people may be born with genes that increase their likelihood of developing shingles multiple times. Lifestyle Factors High stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep can weaken your immune system and may increase your risk. Environmental Triggers Things like too much sunlight or injury to an area of nerves might trigger the virus to wake up again.

As the days get shorter and the temperature cools, it can be tempting to curl up on the sofa with some comfort food and a binge-worthy box set. But we are not naturally hibernating animals, so it’s important to understand why your energy levels may dip while your appetite increases, and address it with healthy choices. The doctors at Healthwords will always encourage a healthy balanced diet over and above taking supplements, and the more colourful and varied your meals, the more nourishing nutrients you are getting. But there are times that supplements may be helpful or even vital. There is less choice of fresh foods over winter, and less sunshine to naturally make vitamin D, plus fighting off colds and flu means our immunity needs to be in tip-top condition. Let's talk you through the challenges of winter and how to counter them to keep you healthy in mind and body.

Group A streptococcus (or group A strep) is a type of bacterium (germ) that commonly lives on our skin or in our nose and throat. Many of us carry this bacteria but never become ill. Strep A infections vary in severity from very mild - such as throat infections - to severe, such as pneumonia, but fortunately, most can be treated with antibiotics. How do I catch Strep A? Many people carry group A Strep without realising it - it causes no problems and they remain well and don’t develop any illness. It can be passed from person to person through close contact with someone who has Strep A, such as kissing or skin-to-skin contact. Strep A can also sometimes be spread through food if someone infected with group A strep prepares or serves food, which is then shared. Who’s most at risk from Strep A? Although most people exposed to Strep A have either no symptoms or mild ones, you’re more likely to be at risk from it if you: have close contact with someone with Strep A are older than 65 are diabetic have heart disease or cancer have recently had chickenpox have HIV have a weakened immune system or take long-term steroids

Threadworms are very common in children, but rare in adults. They are a parasite that passes from faeces to hands to mouth and is incredibly contagious. This infection causes intense itching around the bottom and sometimes the vagina, especially at night – the need to scratch may even disturb your child’s sleep. You might notice tiny white worms around your child’s anus when they are active at night, laying eggs, or mixed in their poo.

A sore throat is hard to ignore, as it affects us when we speak, eat and drink – even simply swallowing can bring on pain. Sore throats are common, and most improve with time and without any intervention. It can be hard to know when to sit it out and when there's reason to worry. First stop, you can assess your own throat, and it’s good to get to know it when you’re well. If you look in the mirror and open wide, perhaps with the help of a torch, you’ll see a high double arch at the back with a little boxing bag in the middle – this is the uvula, flanked on either side by the soft immune tissue of the tonsils. The black hole in the middle reaches the pharynx, the back of the nose and throat and extends down to the larynx (voice box) then onwards to both the airways and lungs, and to the oesophagus (food pipe) and stomach. The back of the throat should be a uniform light to medium pink colour. If it’s red, or with bloody spots, white or yellow spots, this is abnormal. If one or both tonsils look enlarged and red, with the hole in the middle looking squished or smaller, it’s likely you’re fighting off an infection as part of your immune response. This is called tonsillitis. You can’t see further than your tonsils – the pharynx, larynx and vocal cords are unseen in the very back of the throat, and only visible via a special camera on a wire, called an endoscope.

Shingles and chickenpox are both viral infections caused by the same virus, the varicella-zoster virus. Chickenpox is commonly experienced during childhood and is characterised by a widespread, itchy rash. At the same time, shingles reactivate the same virus that can occur later in life, leading to a painful rash and often severe discomfort. Although they stem from the same virus, their manifestations and implications differ significantly. Understanding the distinctions between shingles and chickenpox is essential for accurate diagnosis and appropriate management. Misidentifying one for the other can lead to ineffective treatments and prolonged discomfort. Recognising these differences ensures that individuals receive the correct treatment and take proper measures to prevent the spread or recurrence of these conditions. This article will cover the fundamental aspects of both chickenpox and shingles. It will detail each condition's causes, symptoms, and treatment strategies and discuss prevention measures. By distinguishing between the two, readers will understand how to address these infections and protect themselves and others from their effects.

As we learn to live alongside COVID-19, it can be hard to tease apart the threat it poses to us, and this can depend on many factors – age, sex, ethnicity, health condition. Will it feel like a simple cold or will I end up in hospital? Add the fact that you’re pregnant into the equation, and confusion reigns. In the simplest terms, the risk to pregnant women is low. However, when compared to people of your age and gender, the risk if raised and this is for both becoming unwell enough to need hospital treatment, and of needing intensive care support. This risk is much reduced if you are in good health, and significantly reduced if you are fully vaccinated. The doctors here at Healthwords follow guidance from the NHS and the UK government, in advising you that getting fully vaccinated in pregnancy offers the best protection for you and your baby. Real-world data suggests that pregnant women who are unvaccinated are significantly more likely to end up seriously unwell or needing hospital care than those who are vaccinated. Your baby may also risk being born prematurely if you contract COVID-19.

Quinsy describes a pocket of infection just next to one of your two tonsils at the back of your throat. Also called a peritonsillar abscess, it’s caused by bacteria and occurs as a rare complication of tonsillitis. It is mainly seen in young people from teenagers up to mid twenty's. It can be serious and requires hospitalisation to treat. Symptoms to look out for are a sudden worsening sore throat that can be one-sided, which may cause difficulty swallowing or opening your mouth. This can lead to drooling, bad breath, pain in the ear on the side of the quinsy, and you may speak at a very low volume or with minimum movement of the mouth. A high fever usually accompanies this and it is likely you’ll feel unwell.

The short answer is yes you can, and if you do it’s called a ‘vaccine breakthrough infection’. However, you have much less chance of catching COVID-19 if you’re fully vaccinated and have had your booster, and you’re also much less likely to get seriously unwell or require hospital treatment which is a very important reason to have the vaccine. In addition, if you do get COVID-19 after having had the vaccine in the past, the chance of you passing it on to others is much lower, making you less contagious.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common ailment, and every sufferer has their own particular set of symptoms and triggers. As it commonly starts in your 20s and 30s, it will be most people’s first experience of dealing with a long-term condition. Physical symptoms – abdominal pain, bloating or altered bowel habit – can dominate consultations with your doctor, and, indeed, can impose on daily life. But sometimes the mental health side of IBS can get sidelined, when attention to your psychological needs can actually improve symptoms. Recognising that there is a huge mental health burden is the first step, and taking measures to protect yourself is the next. Here we dig into these in more detail, to keep yourself as well as you can.

Long COVID describes the ongoing symptoms people feel after infection with COVID-19 and refers to ongoing symptoms of COVID-19 four to 12 weeks after the initial infection started. Post COVID-19 syndrome refers to signs and symptoms that develop during or after COVID-19, continue for more than 12 weeks, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. Recovery from COVID-19 infection differs from person to person. For many, the common symptoms of COVID-19 will resolve within a few weeks. We don’t yet know why, but some people are left with symptoms a long time after initial symptoms of the infection have improved. Severe illness with COVID-19 doesn’t necessarily make people more likely to get longstanding symptoms. We haven’t yet found any links between the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and the chance of getting longstanding symptoms, and there remains a lot that we still don’t know.

With the rise of COVID-19, we’ve had to grapple with a whole new scientific vocabulary. Herd immunity (or community immunity) is often mentioned, but what does it really mean? We’ll explain that in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines. Herd immunity means enough of a population is immune to a specific infectious disease (a pathogen such as a virus or bacteria) that it stops the spread. If the virus fails to spread from person to person, fewer people will get unwell and die. And the pathogen will fall to very low levels. Immunity can come from catching the disease and building antibodies: these have a memory that means the next time you meet the pathogen, your immune system recognises it and rapidly kicks into action to defeat it, and you avoid serious illness or death. This is known as natural immunity. The vaccine also gives immunity. In a similar way, it teaches your immune system to recognise the pathogen and build memory cells, so it’s primed to fight off any future invasions. This is desirable if the disease carries a high risk of serious illness or death, such as COVID-19. But natural immunity is preferred for something like the common cold, as it’s not a serious disease, so they haven’t developed a vaccine.