Explainer | Why ‘growing snakes’ – shingles – is so painful and how to prevent it
Shingles causes a rash that can feel like ‘being burned and electrocuted’ at the same time. We look at its symptoms, treatment and vaccine
In Cantonese, shingles – a virus that causes a painful rash – is known as sang se, or “growing snakes”, because of the way the rash seems to creep like a snake under the skin.
“Shingles” comes from the Latin cingulum, which means belt: the rash often appears as a stripe around one side of the waistline.
If you have not heard of shingles, you need to know about it because chances are you or someone you love are at risk of it.
Also known as herpes zoster, shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This virus also causes chickenpox, which most of us are exposed to as children. It is that chickenpox antibody – the VZV antibody – that puts a person at risk of shingles later.
In Hong Kong, 97 per cent of Hong Kong adults aged 40 and older have antibodies to the VZV, and chickenpox is one of the most highly reported notifiable infectious diseases in Hong Kong.
An estimated three to five people out of every 1,000 in Hong Kong will get shingles each year, according to Dr Wong Sze-man at Marina Medical in the city’s Central business district. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says one in three people in the United States will get it in their lifetime.
