Experts, former patients call for more awareness on shingles

MANILA — Experts and former shingles patients call for more awareness on shingles or herpes zoster, a disease they say is "often overlooked" but can pose serious complications if not treated properly.

During a public health campaign dubbed as "Sabi Nila: The Truth About Shingles" on Tuesday, doctors dispelled misconceptions about shingles such as it being caused by witchcraft or “kulam”.

"It is important to give the right information kasi, coming from the province, ang dami talagang beliefs, like nakulam," said dermatologist Dr. Gaile Robredo-Vitas.

“We would get patients from the province na parang, 'Doc kaya ako pumunta kasi pag umikot na siya siya sa katawan ko, mamamatay na ako.’

"May mga ganoon silang beliefs na parang, it's like sawa pa nga ang tawag nila and it goes around your body, wraps around you, and kills you... Now, knowing more information about it, you can help us spread awareness.”

Doctors define shingles as caused by varicella-zoster virus--the same virus that causes chicken pox or bulutong.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said shingles is a "common, very painful, and potentially debilitating illness”.

But the expert clarified, shingles is not infectious.

"If you have the shingles now, you just can't infect any body near you or even the immuno-compromised. It may be transmitted by droplet, but it cannot survive much longer in our mucosal because it's just a virus," he said.

He explained risk factors include age--as the immune system "declines" as people age--smoking, diabetes, and lack of sleep.

Solante said shingles is more than just a rash, as it has a number of complications like neuropathic pain that can last for more than three months, vision loss in rare cases, scarring, Bell's palsy, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.

On top of these, Solante said shingles can also affect daily life, comprising activities like sleep, enjoyment of life, mood, normal work relations with others, and walking abilities.

"If I have someone sitting beside me having shingles here, can I get shingles? No. You may be putting that person beside you in danger because you might have pneumonia or you might have other viral infection, and if that somebody has shingles, he/she may get your infection,” he added.

"That’s why we isolate them in the hospital... because there are other infection that they can acquire."

'ELECTRIFYING', 'SLICING' PAIN

Veteran journalist Karen Davila revealed she got shingles twice, describing the pain as "electrifying".

She mentioned that the symptoms manifested when she had a hectic schedule and barely got sleep.

"The first person I called a dermatologist. I was shocked to find out what it was shingles. I started to read up on it… and got scared with the effects it had on other people. I felt if it happened to them, it can happen to me," she shared.

"I don't smoke, I lack sleep. But relatively, I would consider myself healthy. But I've had an autoimmune disorder... I did have hyperthyroid when I was much younger. When you treat your thyroid, it becomes an autoimmune disease," she added.

Davila said she came out because she believes Filipinos should be more aware of shingles, as "it's something you can't ignore".

"It should be easy. Why wouldn't it be easy to talk about it? What's the big deal? You get sick, you get well. I think we also have to be careful with reactions. 'It's not easy. It's brave.' Then it makes it more difficult to talk about it. It's a fact. It's like if you get sick, and then you recover. That's it,” she said.

"It's nothing different from chicken pox. Or you get measles, or you get COVID - which can kill you - the only difference with shingles is there's a lot of information about it."

Geenette Garcia, another former shingles patient shared she survived shingles four times, calling the rash like "thorns" grabbing her neck and like a "hot knife slowly slicing my breast".

"The first time I had it I was 36... I was out of the job, stressed, but I was fit. I've never had a serious illness... In the middle of the night, nagising ako kasi parang may kamay na may thorns na parang dumakma sa leeg ko," she said.

"The following days dumadalas, and then iyong pain nag-worsen," she added.

Robredo-Vitas explained this "burning pain" is really a manifestation of shingles.

"Usually, before the rashes appear, may pain na talaga siya. And then the rashes start to appear. First red lang siya, like a normal rash, then as it progresses, they turn into a vesicles and blisters. But one thing that is very unusual, that makes it unique is it's only affecting one side of the body," she said.

Preventive measures include getting shingles vaccines, getting enough sleep - at seven to eight hours - avoiding stress, and consulting one's dermatologist.

Information on the viral infection is also available at https://whatisshingles.ph/.