Cobreiro – What is it, Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Cobreiro – What it is, Causes, Symptoms and Treatments  and much more is what you will learn from now on, so stay with us and discover everything about Cobreiro , a disease that is so common among Brazilians. Also, shingles  is a painful rash.

It can appear on the face or elsewhere on the body. It is popularly known as Cobreiro . The Cobreiro virus  is the same one that causes chickenpox (varicella). After a person who has had chickenpox recovers, the virus remains dormant in the body. But, usually at a time of falling immunity, it can reactivate and cause the unpleasant symptoms of shingles . The disease is quite common.

What is Cobreiro:  Herpes zoster, popularly called  Cobreiro , is an infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox (chickenpox), which lies dormant in the body and “awakes” for different reasons. Cobreiro  occurs  when the virus reactivates, almost always because the  immune system  is out of balance due to certain  diseases , such as  cancer ,  HIV , or situations such as an organ transplant, lack of  vitamins ,  stress , nervousness or  excessive anxiety .

The manifestation of  Cobreiro  begins, in most cases, painfully, with tingling, burning and itching at the site, accompanied or not by  fever , headaches and general malaise. Afterwards, the itchy area becomes red and small, blistered eruptions filled with clear or slightly yellowish fluid appear. Lesions usually follow the line of a nerve and are common in the thoracic, cervical, facial, lumbar, and sacral regions. Another feature is that the lesions often appear on only one side of the  body .

The picture can last between one and four weeks. After that, a crust forms on the eruptions until they disappear, but the marks stay for life. When the blisters dry up, an episode of post-herpetic neuralgia can occur, which is a   sharp, throbbing, nagging pain in the area from time to time. Cobreiro  only affects people who have already contracted the Varicella  -zoster virus, as previously mentioned, which causes chickenpox,  a very common disease  in children.

Cobreiro Transmission:  Like chickenpox,  Cobreiro transmission  occurs through direct, person-to-person contact, through contact with the secretions produced by the blisters of the infected individual. Cobreiro  can appear  in situations of  stress , sun exposure, or some low in  the immune system .

Causes of shingles:  When we are exposed to the Varicella-Zoster virus for the first time, which usually occurs during childhood, we develop chickenpox, which is a  disease  characterized by red rashes all over the body and  fever . After a week or two of symptoms, our  immune system  is able to control the  skin infection , causing the  Cobreiro  to be cured.

The problem is that this cure for the symptoms is not necessarily a cure for the virus. During the initial phase of chickenpox, the virus invades the nerve endings in the  skin  and migrates to some chains of ganglia located close to the spinal cord and  brain , thus managing to remain “hidden” from  the immune system  for periods that can last decades. The patient, therefore, is cured of chickenpox, but remains infected with the Varicella-Zoster virus for the rest of his life.

In general, this is not a problem, as every time the virus tries to come out of its hiding place in the nerve ganglia, our  immune system , which now has specific antibodies against the Varicella-Zoster virus, manages to stop it. The patient keeps the virus at bay, not showing any symptoms, nor being able to transmit it to other people. So, if on the one hand we can’t get rid of the virus for good, on the other our  immune system  is competent enough to prevent the virus from attacking us again.

However, our battle against Varicella-Zoster depends on a   strong immune system . The virus can lie in wait for decades, waiting for a wave of antibodies to multiply again. This means that a drop in our immunity is enough for the virus to be able to manifest itself again. The reactivation of Varicella-Zoster does not cause a new picture of chickenpox, but a  different disease  , which is called  Cobreiro .

Risk Factors for shingles:  As already mentioned, to have  shingles  it is necessary to have had chickenpox at some point in life. Up to 20% of patients with a history of childhood chickenpox will have at least one episode of  Cobreiro , which usually appears after age 50. Among patients over 85, this rate rises to more than 50%. Cobreiro  arises when there  is a drop in immune defenses. Among the risk factors we can mention:

• Age over 50 years.
•  Physical or psychological stress .
• Sleep deprivation  .
• diabetes  mellitus
• Cancer
• Chemotherapy.
• Chronic diseases  .
• Use of immunosuppressive drugs.
• HIV  /  AIDS

Sintomas de Cobreiro: O primeiro sintoma de Cobreiro, geralmente é uma dor unilateral, queimação ou sensação de formigamento. Tanto a dor como queimação podem ser grave e geralmente ocorre antes de aparecer qualquer erupção do Cobreiro. Na maioria das pessoas, são formadas manchas na pele, seguidas por bolhas bem pequenas. Quando as bolhas de Cobreiro se rompem, formam pequenas úlceras e depois secam e formam crostas, que se dividem em cerca de duas a três semanas. Raramente a pessoa fica com alguma cicatriz.

• A erupção geralmente envolve uma área estreita da coluna vertebral, ao redor da parte frontal da área da barriga ou do peito.
• The rash can happen on the face,  eyes , mouth and ears.

Other symptoms that Cobreiro can cause:

•  abdominal pain
• fever  and chills
• General feeling of being unwell
• genital ulcers
• Headache
• joint pain
• Swelling  of the lymph nodes

Cobreiro  may also experience  muscle weakness,  skin rash  and  pain  involving different parts of the face if  Cobreiro  affects a facial nerve. Symptoms can include:

• Difficulty moving some of the facial muscles;
• Eyelid drooping (ptosis);
• Hearing loss;
• Loss of  eye movement ;
• Problems feeling flavors;
• Vision problems.

Contagion of the Cobreiro:  To avoid the contagion of the herpes zoster virus, it is not recommended to touch the wound of the individual who is infected, and if it is present in the mouth, it is not recommended to drink from the same cup, or to share any type of object that has come into contact. contact with the wound. Remember that if a person has never had chickenpox, if they ever come into contact with the herpes zoster virus, even as an adult, they will not have shingles  but  chickenpox.

Treatments for shingles:  The home remedies and popular to treat  shingles  are:

• Boil some  dandelion leaves  in a liter of  water  for fifteen minutes. Drink three cups a day.
• Apply  undiluted hydrogen  peroxide to each of the bubbles, using a disinfected dropper or a cotton ball.
• Mix half a   boiled and chopped  carrot in water  and obtain a paste, similar to a puree. Apply as a poultice on the regions affected by  Cobreiro .
• Ferva cinquenta gramas de verbena em um copo de água por cinco minutos. Estenda a verbena sobre um pano e coloque na pele, na região afetada. Repita sempre que o pano secar.
• Ferva duas porções de folhas de azeda-miúda (Rumex acetosa) em um litro de água durante dez minutos. Retire do fogo, deixe esfriar e empape um pano na infusão para aplicá-lo nas bolhas.
• Ferva um punhado de folhas de bardana em meio litro de água por cinco minutos. Retire do fogo, deixe esfriar, empape um pano de algodão e aplique na região afetada. Deixe atuar por meia hora.
• Drink several cups of   lemon balm tea throughout the day to take advantage of its antiviral properties. This will help prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of the  body . Store the  tea bags  in the fridge and apply to the bubbles.
• Put oat flour or cornstarch in a little water, so that it becomes a liquid mixture. Wash the lesions with this  water  for at least twenty minutes. Repeat the treatment every day before bed, it will help to relieve the itching.
• Apply a wet adhesive bandage to the rashes when they are in an advanced stage. Be careful not to stick the sticky part over one of the bubbles! Wet a towel with  cold water  , wring it out and leave it in the area for a few minutes until the temperature regulates.
• Make a cream with hot pepper seeds and aloe vera gel (or use a ready-made cream that contains these ingredients). In addition to adding peppers to  the daily diet  to take advantage of capsaicin (in pharmacies you can find some creams that contain this last ingredient).
• A very good plant is Melissa, which is potent and effective in curing  shingles  or shingles naturally. It has calming, analgesic and antispasmodic effects. Prepare an infusion with a good amount of this herb and let it cool until lukewarm. Apply to the area with a cotton or cloth, at least four times a day. If you drink  lemon balm tea  , you can fight the discomfort associated with the problem (such as  fever  or   generalized pain ).
• Another effective medicinal plant to treat  shingles  is cat’s claw. It is not recommended for  pregnant women  and is a potent antiviral and anti-inflammatory. Prepare an infusion and repeat the same steps as for Melissa.