| Neuronal inflammation and necrosis leads to severe pain or postherpetic neuralgia, which increases as the infection travels down the nerve. |
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| The most common chronic complication of herpes zoster is postherpetic neuralgia. |
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| The study shows that the clinical course of herpes zoster is relatively benign and that postherpetic neuralgia rarely affects daily life. |
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| Pain is the most debilitating feature of herpes zoster, and postherpetic neuralgia is the most common long-term complication. |
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| Methods of treating postherpetic neuralgia include opioid analgesics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants, but none of these therapies is consistently effective. |
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| Among these sequelae are postherpetic neuralgia, ophthalmic zoster, Ramsay-Hunt syndrome, bacterial superinfection, scarring, meningoencephalitis, pneumonitis, and hepatitis. |
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