Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, for many people chickenpox is a childhood disease. While it is very worrying for the parents at the time, most of us forget that we ever had it. Many in the community are unaware that the virus for chickenpox sits dormant in our nervous system for the rest of our lives—that is, unless we experience an event where our immune system is not as efficient as normal or just because we are aging and our immune system is not working as well as it did in our younger years.

There are many people in Gilmore who have had the misfortune to have this happen to them or to have a friend who has suffered. The virus does not come back as another bout of chickenpox; it comes back as shingles. Shingles is an infection of a nerve area caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The way we experience the re-emergence of the virus is pain and a rash along a band of skin following a nerve pathway. I read that the usual symptoms often go within two to four weeks. This certainly happened the first time I experienced shingles. The pain can sometimes stay after the rash has gone; this happens more often for people over the age of 50. Sometimes when you know what is happening, there is an antiviral medication that can be prescribed, but unless you really know what you are in for with shingles, you may miss the early signs, and then it is simply too late. This antiviral can reduce the effects if given in time, but many of our mature citizens are a tough lot and tend to dismiss pain or other symptoms thinking, 'They will go away if I am patient,' and they take a couple of painkillers and carry on.

Shingles is not such an easy disease to deal with. Shingles is sometimes called herpes zoster. About one in five people have shingles at some time in their life. It can occur at any age but usually occurs in people over 50. It is not common to have shingles more than once, but about one person in 50 has shingles two or more times in their life. I guess it is nice to know that I am a rare person; I have in fact had shingles three times—the last time following the nerve pathways in my face, where my doctor thought my eye might have been at risk. I have the greatest sympathy for anyone who has suffered from shingles and have worked hard to lobby for the vaccine to be part of the action taken by this government to address the problem of shingles. In many cases, an episode of shingles occurs for no apparent reason. Sometimes a period of stress or illness seems to trigger it. For many, the death of a loved one or the diagnosis of cancer leads to an outbreak of shingles, more than doubling their grief or their ability to deal with the need for chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Shingles really is a nasty, mean disease.

The virus usually affects one nerve only on one side of the body. The symptoms occur in the area of skin that the nerve supplies. Occasionally, two or three nerves next to each other are affected. The most commonly involved nerves are those supplying the skin on the chest or tummy; the upper face, including the eye, is also a common site. The pain is a localised band of pain. It can be anywhere on your body, depending on the nerve that is affected. The pain can range from mild to severe. It may feel constant and dull, burning or gnawing. In addition or instead, you may have sharp and stabbing pains that come and go. In fact, when I had shingles on my face I could barely lift my head off the pillow. The shingles rash typically appears two to three days after the pain begins. Red blotches appear that quickly develop into itchy blisters. The rash looks like chickenpox but only appears on the band of skin supplied by the affected nerve. The blisters then dry up, form scabs and gradually fade away. But I have known some poor patients to be suffering it for months.

Most people do not have any complications; however, there are many where the results are quite damaging to the quality of their life. Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common complication. It is where the nerve pain, neuralgia of shingles, persists after the rash has gone. This is uncommon for those aged under 50; however, one in four people with shingles over the age of 60 have pain that lasts for more than a month.

The older you are the more likely it is that it will occur, and sometimes the nerve control in the muscle is affected. The pain from shingles is unbelievable and for anybody who ever suffers from it, my heart absolutely goes out to them. Minister, given the problems that do arise from people contracting shingles, can you outline the measures in the budget to support people in my electorate, and also across Australia, who may suffer from this debilitating and horrible disease?

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