Treat Chicken Pox and Shingles Effectively

Both chicken pox and shingles are highly contagious viral conditions that are characterized by painful skin rash. Caused by the herpes virus, the earliest symptoms of both conditions include headache, fever, a general feeling of malaise, sore throat and swelling of the face.

Treatment for both conditions is available in the form of Acyclovir tablets.

What is Acyclovir?

Acyclovir belongs to a family of drugs known as guanosine analogue antiviral drugs. Its one of the most commonly used treatment options for treating shingles and chickenpox. The development of this medication heralded a new era in antiviral therapy. Its selective action and its low levels of toxicity with respect to cells, has made it the recommended treatment option for shingles and chicken pox.

How Does Acyclovir Work?

To understand the working of Acyclovir, it's a good idea to understand how the herpes viruses work in the body. The virus acts in the body by multiplying through replication. As the virus cells begin multiplying, it spreads through the body. The intake of Acyclovir helps arrest the reproduction of the virus, limiting its spread to a particular part of your body. Basically, it stops the virus from spreading all over your body.

When you take in Acyclovir, it inhibits the functioning of those enzymes that the herpes virus uses for replication. This means that the virus can no longer multiply. As the spread of virus stops, so does the spread of its symptoms. This also helps reduce the severity of the symptoms.

Treatment with Acyclovir

Aciclovir is a prescription medication available in dosages of 200mg, 400mg and 800mg. The doctor will take cognizance of your current intake of medications and existing health condition(s) before prescribing the appropriate dosage. Typically, the medication is prescribed at the first sign of an infection. This medication needs to be taken orally with a glass of water and can be taken with or without food. Some people, prescribed Acyclovir have noticed that there is a reduction in the side effects if it's taken with food; especially side effects like stomach upset, diarrhoea and nausea. Chicken pox and shingles can be effectively treated with Valtrex also.

Side Effects of Acyclovir

The use of Acyclovir tablets may cause certain side effects. The nature of the side effects and their severity might be different in different people. Patients taking this medication sometimes suffer from digestive side effects like vomiting, nausea and diarrhoea. Other side effects also include headache, memory loss, fatigue, pain in the legs, sore throat, and swelling of the hands and feet. If you suffer from a side effect that becomes bothersome, it's important that you seek immediate medical help.

The effect of Acyclovir on unborn babies has not yet been understood clearly. So, pregnant women are advised not to take this medication. Also, you might experience a significant improvement in your condition before you complete the recommended dosage. But, it's important that you complete the prescribed dosage and not leave it midway. If you do, it might lead to some complications later on.

Hayden Eck writes articles on various health topics like Sexual Health Treatment and its supplements, which can be treated effectively with like: Valtrex Valaciclovir and Aciclovir Tablets also known as Acyclovir.

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Symptoms Found in Chicken Pox and Shingles

Symptoms of Chickenpox (varicella) may vary from patient to patient making us see people that have headaches, flue like symptoms or even fever, that in some cases can reach 105 F, and swollen glands are also included. The incubation period of the chickenpox may also vary from 10 to 20 days, again depending on the patient and its immune system.

This doesn't last much. Shortly after the flue like symptoms have past the rash breaks out. By rash we understand the appearance of tiny red bumps, mostly on the face, chest or abdomen. Spreading relatively quickly, they start to get bigger in a mater of hours forming a blister on a red base. A funny comparison has been found for them: dewdrops on rose petals. At first the fluid in the blisters is clear only to become cloudy during the period of several days and eventually forming a scab and falling of after another four. The number of blister also varies; while some patients of chickenpox have only a few ones, other can have hundreds, on top of that being the fact that they each like crazy. Lasting seven to ten days, the disease causes the patient to have several crops of blisters.

Another type of skin disease would be the shingles (Herpes Zoster) attack. Occurring nearly always on adults, we see it developing on one side of the human body and having three identifiable symptoms.

->Prodrome: a cluster of warning symptoms appearing before the outbreak of the infection.

->The infection begins.

->Postherpetic neuralgi a develops.

Pain is a very common symptom in herpes zoster, often appearing well before the appearance of the rash.

Predrome (pain) - being the first symptom to appear in patients, it appears to be located at the very site where the virus will be re-activating, making the pain be sharp, piercing, tearing or even similar to an electric shock. Besides pain, the patient might feel that the area is itching or be unbearably sensitive to touch. Muscles aches and even fever are some of the extreme symptoms of the disease. Although usually lasting only a couple of days before the rash, cases have been known where the pain has lasted more ... lot more for weeks or even month.

Active shingles - it marks the actual infection. 50% or 60% of cases occur on the trunk, the side of head being the next big area on witch it appears, making a very big risk the fact that the infection could spread to the mouth or eyes. First a rash appears only to become small fluid-filled blisters in about 12 hours witch eventually grow and become pus filled. The healing last as long as in chickenpox: up to 10 days.

Zoster Sine Herpete is the condition when the pain is not followed by the rash, this thing occurring more often in elder patients, with symptoms very similar to the ones of chickenpox.

For more information about chicken pox virus or even about symptoms of chicken pox please review this page http://www.chicken-pox-center.com/

Adults Risk To Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is considered to be a mild childhood disease and not detrimental to a patient who is in good health. Did you know for the fact that studies done over the years indicates it is the leading fatality when the statistics are compared to mumps,measles,whooping cough and Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis.

At least 15,000 people are warded to hospitals each year for this disease, 60% of them being children. On the average from a thousand sufferers only five require hospitalization, and in most case it is none fatal.

The category of people who are at the greatest risk of suffering serious complications from this disease are mostly adults even though infants are also at high risk, forty percent of the mortality rate are still children. That implies a staggering 60% of death associated with chicken pox are adults!

Varicella Zoster virus infection is dangerous to pregnant woman who risk giving birth to baby with serious defects. Adults with very weak immune body system risk bacteria infections, particularly from group A streptococcus bacteria.

Streptococcus bacteria secondary infection as a indirect result of chicken pox albeit being mild can in some circumstances leads to fatality as it spreads to muscle, skin soft tissue,fat or even the blood resulting in toxic shock syndrome, commonly recognize as the dreaded necrotizing fasciitis infection( also better known as flesh-eating bacteria) even though it is very rare.

Adults are also more prone to bone and join infections, pneuomonia and in some rare cases brain infection. Adult with weak immune system also risk getting shingles even after they have recover from chicken pox.