Health : Herpes zoster heightened risk of stroke
Careful adults. especially, if exposed to the herpes disease that attacks the skin around the eyes. it can increase the chances of stroke.
According to Dr.jiunn-horng Kang, researchers neuroscience research center university hospital medical taipei, taiwan, previous studies have linked the risk of stroke with herpes zoster, however, the frequency and risk of this phenomenon is unknown. horng kang research journal published edition november stroke.
Herpes zoster is a painful skin rash. arising from infection by the varicella zoster virus that causes chickenpox. the virus remains in the body after chicken pox cured, but can explode again to cause shingles.
horng Kang and colleagues studied data of about 7760 adults in Taiwan are being treated for shingles between 1997 and 2001. after treatment, 133 of whom 1.7% suffered a stroke. incidence of stroke in the control group which consisted of 23,280 adults but untreated shingles is 1.3% or 306 people.
Data analysis showed that the risk of stroke in a period of one year was 1.3% higher in the group of herpes zoster. incident dramatically higher for people with herpes zoster infection in or around the eyes. nearly 4.3 times higher than in the control group.
ischemic stroke can be caused by a blood clot that holds the brain arteries, or hemorrhagic because of the outbreak of the blood vessels. the study found the incidence of ischemic stroke is higher, ie 3.1% and incidence of hemorrhagic stroke shingles grouped around 2.79 times higher.
until now, there is no treatment for the risk of stroke-induced herpes zoster infection. he kept on doing research to see if anti-virus that is used to treat shingles can reduce the risk of stroke.
Shingles rash usually starts on the face or body, which often cause pain, itching and tingling. attacks can last for 2-4 weeks. incidence of shingles increases with age.
although, many reports about the possibility of herpes zoster associated with stroke, but according to Dr.daniel Lackland, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the medical university of south carolina is also spokesman for american stroke association, which conducted research kang horng who first connected with herpes zoster specifically stroke.
