her'pes zos'ter

Syn.: shingles, from the Lat., cingulum, a girdle. A disease characterized by the development of groups of herpetic vesicles in the areas of skin that are supplied by nerve fibers from one or two posterior root ganglia. It occurs most frequently in the course of the intercostal nerves. The eruption begins with the appearance of a group of acuminate inflammatory papules which ordinarily develop soon into tense vesicles. They may be discrete and as large as a pea or even larger or they may coalesce to form bullae. On the other hand they may not develop beyond the papule stage. Pain accompanies the cutaneous lesion in direct proportion to the age of the patient, being very severe in old age. The disease seldom recurs and is generally not accompanied by fever. It is most common in spring and fall and statistics show that seventy-five per cent, of the cases are under twenty-five years of age. [Gr., erpein, to creep, + zoster, a girdle.]