---
url: 'https://stagehia.healthinaging.org/a-z-topic/shingles'
title: Shingles
author:
  name: 'lauren kopchik'
  url: 'https://stagehia.healthinaging.org/user/97'
date: '2018-11-08T21:36:42+00:00'
updated: '2023-02-23T15:27:15+00:00'
type: topic
summary: 'Shingles is the name for a painful, blistering skin rash that is caused by the chickenpox virus (herpes zoster or varicella zoster). Shingles almost always affects older adults, although younger people get it occasionally, too.'
tags:
  - Health
published: true
---
 Shingles is an illness that is characterized by sudden development of painful, blistering skin rash that is caused by the chickenpox virus.

Most people who get shingles are older adults, although younger people may get it too. About a third of people aged 60 and older who get shingles have nerve pain. The older a person is, the longer that pain may last.

[Basic Facts](/a-z-topic/shingles/basic-facts)

[Causes](/a-z-topic/shingles/causes)

[Symptoms](/a-z-topic/shingles/symptoms)

[Diagnosis & Tests](/a-z-topic/shingles/tests)

[Care & Treatment](/a-z-topic/shingles/care-treatment)