Running Head: CASE STUDY SIX

Case Study Six
Julia McGraw
Lakeview College of Nursing
N-309 Nursing of the Gerontological Client
June 26, 2011

CASE STUDY SIX									        2
Case Study Six
     The herpes zoster virus causes shingles.  This virus causes chicken pox and can be reactivated later in life, causing shingles. (Mauk, 2010, p. 441)
     In order to get shingles, a person has been exposed to chicken pox.  This exposure could be at any point in your life, including your childhood.  The virus stays dormant in your body all of your life and can reappear when your immune system is weakened. (Madison, 2000)
     It does cause severe pain.  It caused by the infection of the nerve that the virus is attacking.  The best you can do for yourself is to get an ample amount of rest and to try to be as comfortable as possible.  We could also try different therapeutic techniques and you can also try to distract yourself. (Mauk, 2010, p. 441)
     It just depends on the nerve that is infected.  If that is where the nerve is located, then it is possible.  It usually starts on a person’s face or chest. (Mauk, 2010, p. 441)
     You are contagious when you have a weeping rash.  These lesions can continue to appear for five days.  It usually takes a person two to four weeks to completely heal. (Litchfield, 2010, p. 229)
     In most cases the severe pain is gone within three to five weeks after the lesions have healed.  It can however, last six months to a year after the lesions have healed. (Mauk, 2010, p. 441)
     In most cases, it only happens to a person one time.  In five percent of the cases, it reappears.  There is a way of preventing a reoccurrence.  There are shots now available and Medicare pays for this vaccine. (Mauk, 2010, p. 441)

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References

Litchfield, S. (2010). Shingles. AAOHN Journal, 58(6), 228-231. doi:10.3928/08910162-

     20100526-05
Madison, L. (2000). Shingles update: common questions in caring for a patient with shingles. 
     Orthopaedic Nursing, 19(1), 59-62. Retrieved from:         
     http://proxy.library.eiu.edu:2053/ehost/detail?sid=8275d16b-406c-435e-
Mauk, K. L. (Ed.). (2010). Gerontological nursing: Competencies for care (2nd ed.). Sudbury, 
     MA: Jones and Bartlett.