Varicella zoster virus causes which two conditions?

Varicella zoster virus causes which two conditions?

• A. Measles and mumps
• B. Scarlet fever and cellulitis
• C. Chickenpox and shingles
• D. Mononucleosis and hepatitis

Answer: (C)

Varicella zoster virus causes two related diseases in a person’s life: the primary infection chickenpox (varicella) and a later reactivation known as shingles (herpes zoster). After the initial illness, the virus doesn’t go away; it retreats to latent sites in dorsal root ganglia. When reactivated, it travels along a sensory nerve to the skin, producing a painful, vesicular rash that typically follows a single dermatomal distribution—that’s shingles. Chickenpox shows a widespread, itchy vesicular rash with fever and malaise, especially in children, and is highly contagious. Shingles causes localized, often severe neuropathic pain before the rash appears and can lead to postherpetic neuralgia. Other choices refer to diseases caused by different pathogens (measles and mumps by other viruses, scarlet fever by bacteria, mononucleosis by Epstein-Barr virus, etc.).

Varicella zoster virus causes two related diseases in a person’s life: the primary infection chickenpox (varicella) and a later reactivation known as shingles (herpes zoster). After the initial illness, the virus doesn’t go away; it retreats to latent sites in dorsal root ganglia. When reactivated, it travels along a sensory nerve to the skin, producing a painful, vesicular rash that typically follows a single dermatomal distribution—that’s shingles. Chickenpox shows a widespread, itchy vesicular rash with fever and malaise, especially in children, and is highly contagious. Shingles causes localized, often severe neuropathic pain before the rash appears and can lead to postherpetic neuralgia. Other choices refer to diseases caused by different pathogens (measles and mumps by other viruses, scarlet fever by bacteria, mononucleosis by Epstein-Barr virus, etc.).