I am just recovering from shingles, and my doctor says its connected with chickenpox. Can you explain this?
Shingles is caused by a virus called Herpes zoster, which is the same virus that causes chickenpox.
When you were a child, you had chickenpox at some stage. Since then, the virus has not left your body, but has migrated to the roots of the nerves along your spinal cord, where it can remain in an inactive stage for the rest of your life.
At times of stress, either emotional or physical, or when you have another illness that lowers your resistance, the virus may become active again and start to multiply and move along the nerve. This causes the skin and other tissues around the area the nerve supplies to become very painful, and this is the first symptom of shingles.
Usually only one or two nerves are affected, and almost invariably on only one side of the body. Any nerve may be affected, and it can occur on the belly or chest (which are the most common sites), or on the face or legs. The worst variety occurs around the eye and ear, where dizziness, ear noises and rarely blindness may occur.
When the rapidly multiplying virus particles reach the end of the nerve, an acutely tender blistering rash occurs. This often forms an acutely tender belt-like line around one half of the body. The rash dries out slowly and disappears over several weeks, usually healing completely, but occasionally leaving some scarring on sensitive areas such as the neck and face.
Tablets are now available to cure shingles, but you must start taking them within three days of the rash first appearing, so never hesitate to see your doctor if you develop a painful rash—you could save yourself weeks or months of pain and discomfort.

I need help with my cold sores. They just keep coming and nothing seems to help them. What can I do?
Cold sores are best treated when they first develop. The first symptoms are pain and tingling at the site of the sore on the lips, nose or elsewhere. If antiviral ointment (eg. Zovirax) is applied every hour to the area at this stage, it may be possible to prevent the sore from developing. Once the sore is present, the ointment is not as effective.
The best treatment for developed cold sores are the many lotions and creams available from chemists that contain a drying agent to heal, an antiseptic to prevent further infection, and an anaesthetic to ease the pain. About a quarter of the population are susceptible to these sores, and develop them at irregular intervals for many years.
Unfortunately there is no permanent cure yet available.

I went to my doctor with an itchy rash and she says I have an insect in my skin called scabies! What is this disease?
Scabies occurs when tiny insects, which are barely visible to the naked eye, start burrowing under the skin. It is rather like a microscopic mole, digging burrows that can be one centimetre or more long in the outer layers of your skin. These burrows, and the tissue around them, then become red, itchy and inflamed.
The only way to catch scabies is by close contact with someone who already has the disease. In its early stages, a person may not realise that the couple of itchy spots they have on their hands are scabies, and so shaking hands with that person could spread the disease.
Treatment involves painting the entire body below the neck with a lotion or cream. All other members of the family, and anyone else closely connected to the sufferer, should be treated at the same time. The bed linen needs to be changed on that day too. The treatment is repeated after a week, so that any mites that hatch from the eggs remaining after the initial treatment will be killed.
Scabies need not be a disease of unhygienic families, and can occur in the children of the most scrupulously clean mother. It does tend to come in epidemics every couple of years, and obviously the sooner it is treated, the less it will spread.

What diseases could cause me to get sores around my neck and armpit all the time?
Weeping infections of the skin can take on many different forms, but they all look and feel most unpleasant. They will include diseases such as school sores, boils and carbuncles.
School sores are caused by one or more of several different bacteria. The bacteria spread easily from one person to another, and are known as school sores because of their rapid spread from one child to another in a crowded classroom.
A boil or furuncle, is a localised infection of the skin, often caused by the ‘Golden Staph’ bacteria. It usually starts in a hair root, and appears as a rounded, red, sore lump with a central core of pus. They are most common on the back and neck. A carbuncle is an area of infected skin through which there are many openings for pus to escape. Unlike a boil, it is only slightly raised, but still quite red and sore.
Once a sore is present, a doctor should be seen as soon as possible for an appropriate antibiotic to be prescribed.