Shingles
Anywhere from 600,000 to a million people contract shingles in the U.S. each year. Twenty percent of shingles patients experience postherpetic neuralgia—persistent nerve pain.

Shingles is a skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person contracts chickenpox, the virus, called Varicella zoster, lies dormant in the nerves. Things like severe emotional stress or deficiencies in the immune system can trigger or re- activate the virus, causing shingles. It strikes only one side of the body and is often accompanied by severe pain radiating along the course of one or more nerves.

Pregnant women, adults who have never had chickenpox, and persons with compromised immune systems should avoid direct contact with anyone suffering from shingles.