{"id":555734,"date":"2026-06-26T19:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/555734\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:20:09","slug":"varicella-zoster-virus-inflicts-lasting-damage-to-nerves-and-the-brain-study-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/555734\/","title":{"rendered":"Varicella-zoster virus inflicts lasting damage to nerves and the brain, study reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For millions worldwide, herpes zoster pain does not end when the rash fades. Postherpetic neuralgia can last for years or even a lifetime, devastating quality of life. Now, a comprehensive review led by Professor Bifa Fan from China\u2013Japan Friendship Hospital has mapped the full cascade of mechanisms driving this persistent pain, providing definitive support for earlier, more aggressive treatment.<\/p>\n<p>The study reveals that the varicella-zoster virus inflicts lasting damage to nerves and the brain: injured fibers become hyper-excitable due to abnormal ion channels, while the spinal cord and brain develop &#8220;central sensitization&#8221;-amplifying pain signals indefinitely. The authors link each mechanism to existing targeted therapies and emphasize that acute pain and PHN are a single continuous disease process, a principle now enshrined in the 2025 guidelines.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Too many patients wait for pain to resolve on its own, missing the critical window to stop it from becoming chronic. This guideline update is a game-changer that will spare countless patients from years of unnecessary suffering.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Professor Bifa Fan, China\u2013Japan Friendship Hospital<\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The work titled &#8220;Research Progress on Zoster-Associated Pain and Its Pain Mechanisms&#8221;\u00a0was published in Skin\u00a0on April 21, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n<p>Journal reference:<\/p>\n<p>Li, Y., et al. (2026) Research Progress on Zoster-Associated Pain and Its Pain Mechanisms.\u00a0Skin. DOI:\u00a010.2738\/SKIN.2026.0003.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/journal.hep.com.cn\/skin\/EN\/10.2738\/SKIN.2026.0003\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/journal.hep.com.cn\/skin\/EN\/10.2738\/SKIN.2026.0003<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For millions worldwide, herpes zoster pain does not end when the rash fades. Postherpetic neuralgia can last for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[159,142,2597,18,135,24441,15222,19,17,197107,149,237751,74940,172,5822],"class_list":["post-555734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain","tag-chronic","tag-education","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-herpes","tag-herpes-zoster","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-neuralgia","tag-pain","tag-postherpetic-neuralgia","tag-rash","tag-research","tag-skin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116818033115532796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}