Shingles
Shingles is caused by reactivation of the chickenpox virus, also called varicella zoster virus, which lays dormant in nerve fibers. When it's reactivated, often by trauma or stress, the virus can produce very painful skin blisters.
It's estimated that roughly one out of five people will at some point in their lives suffer an attack of shingles.
Dr. Herng-Ching Lin, from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan and associates found that a bout of shingles raises the risk of stroke over the subsequent year by roughly 30 percent.
Varicella zoster virus is the only human virus known to replicate in arteries in the brain, they note in a report published Thursday in the journal Stroke. The virus is thought to spread along the nerve fibers to the blood vessels where it induces harmful inflammatory and blood-clotting effects.
Doug
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