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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffShingles is usually diagnosed based on the history of pain on one side of your body, along with the telltale rash and blisters. Your doctor may also take a tissue scraping or culture of the blisters for examination in the laboratory.
References
- Shingles: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/detail_shingles.htm. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Ferri FF. Herpes zoster. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2009. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/143941389-3/853489074/1701/269.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04134-8..50011-2--subchapter24_5768. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Shingles disease: Questions and answers (herpes zoster). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Albrecht MA. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of varicella-zoster virus infection: Herpes zoster. http://uptodate.com/home/index/html. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- AgePage: Shingles. National Institute on Aging. http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/shingles.asp. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine Q&A. Centers for Disease and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/varicella/vac-faqs-gen.htm. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- Herpes zoster vaccine Q&A (Shingles). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/vac-faqs.htm. Accessed June 18, 2009.
