Can Shingles Cause Pneumonia

Viral pneumonia is usually mild.

Can shingles cause pneumonia. People younger than 40 rarely experience phn. Internal shingles can cause the following complications depending on the organ it affects. Sign up for aarp s health newsletter. The fungi that cause it can be found in soil or bird droppings and vary depending upon geographic location.

Find out what shingles can cause what to look for and how to get treated. En español older adults can safely take vaccines against pneumonia and shingles at the same time without compromising the effectiveness of either researchers with kaiser permanente have concluded in a new study published in the journal vaccine. In rare cases the shingles virus can spread to the internal organs and cause inflammation. Shingles not only gives you a painful rash it can also lead to other serious problems.

An older adult with shingles is more likely to develop phn and have longer lasting and more severe pain than a younger person with shingles. After a person recovers from chickenpox the virus stays dormant inactive in the body. It causes a large painful rash with blisters. It can reactivate years later and cause shingles.

Some of the viruses that cause colds and the flu can cause pneumonia. Shingles or herpes zoster is a common viral infection. Chickenpox and shingles are related because they are caused by the same virus varicella zoster virus. The shingles virus can spread to the internal organs resulting in a condition called internal shingles.

Shingles may lead to serious complications involving the eye including blindness. People can also develop pneumonia if the virus infects the lungs. Pneumonia encephalitis stroke and bacterial infections can cause your body to go into shock or sepsis. Their findings address a 2009 recommendation by the drugs manufacturer merck co that the zoster or.

Viruses are the most common cause of pneumonia in children younger than 5 years. If you had zostavax in the recent past you should wait at least eight weeks before getting shingrix. Shingles in or around an eye ophthalmic shingles can cause painful eye infections that may result in vision loss. If left untreated some complications of shingles can be fatal.