Time now for our "Life & Info" segment... where we focus on information useful for your everyday life.<br />Shingles is common in older adults who have a weakened immune system.<br />The number of cases has been rising each year in South Korea, …with an uptick in the number of patients in their 30s and 40s in the last five years.<br />Park Se-young reports.<br />Skin rashes, blisters and constant intense pain.<br />These are the most common symptoms of shingles, …caused by the same virus responsible for chicken pox.<br />The virus remains hidden in the body of a person who has had chicken pox …and becomes reactivated when the immune system is weakened.<br /><br />The number of shingles patients in Korea has been increasing by an average of three percentage points per year.<br />Most of the patients, …63-point-four percent, were aged 50 and above.<br />But the rate of increase was greatest among people in their 30s and 40s, …at three-point-six to four percent each year.<br />Shingles patients should see a doctor and get proper treatment because nerve damage, and the accompanying pain, tends to get worse over time.<br /><br />"Unlike chicken pox, this virus causes damage to nerves. Damaged nerves are difficult to recover, and often progress to neuralgia as an aftereffect."<br /><br />Depending on the affected area, the virus can result in meningitis, blindness and facial paralysis.<br />This is why experts say people with symptoms of a painful, itchy rash or shooting pain should get diagnosed and treated within 72 hours.<br />Shingles requires anti-viral medication and nerve blocks to manage the pain.<br />Those over 50 years of age or with weakened immune systems are recommended to get vaccines.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News.<br />
