Abstract

Background. Herpes zoster infection is a painful worldwide disease. Inappropriate and delayed treatment causes prolongation of the disease with debilitating symptoms and postherpetic neuralgia. Method. A cross-sectional study evaluated shingles cases admitted in a teaching hospital with one-year followup in north of Iran from 2007 to 2013. Results. From 132 patients, 60.4 were male. Head and neck involvement occurred in 78 people (59.1), thoracoabdominal region in 37 cases (28), and extremities in 16 cases (12.1), and one case (0.8) got multisites involvement. 54 cases (40.9) had predisposing factors including diabetes mellitus in 26 cases (19.7), malignancy in 15 (11.4), immunosuppressive medication in 7 (5.03), HIV infection in 3 (2.3), radiotherapy in 2 (1.5), and tuberculosis in one patient (0.8). The most common symptoms were pain (95.5), weakness (56), fever (31.1), headache (30.3), ocular complaints (27.3), itching (24.2), and dizziness (5.3). 21 cases (15.9) had bacterial superinfection on blistering areas and overall 18 cases (13.6) had opium addiction. 4 cases (3.03) died during admission because of comorbidities. Postherpetic neuralgia was reported in 56 patients (42.5) after three months and seven cases (5) in one year followup. Conclusion. Shortening interval between skin lesion manifestation and starting medication can accelerate lesion improvement and decrease disease course, extension, and complication.