zoster

Term: zoster

Literally meaning: “gird”

Origin: Anc Greek

ζωστήρ/zoster(=belt, girdle)

+ ζώνη/zone(=belt)  > ζώννυμι/zonimi(=gird)

Coined/History

  The zoster was a belt worn by warriors  in ancient Greece in order to secure their armour. By the Hellenistic period, it had become synonymous with “zone=belt” and was used mainly for women’s clothes.  

  The disease is named as “zoster” because it is characterized by painful skin rash like belt-like rashes. Hippocrates cited the word “herpes” meaning “creeping” or “crawling”. In 1831 English phycisian Richard Bright (1789-1858) first proposed a link between herpes zoster and the nerves. Thirty years later German dermatologist Felix von Barensprung (1822-1864) confirmed damage to nerves performing autopsy. In 1888, von Bokay suggested that chichenpox and herpes zoster were due to trhe same causal agent.

Definition

  The tern is referred to herpes zoster (zoster or zona) a viral dermal and neurological disease caused by varicella-zoster virus similar to the virus causing varicella (chickenpox). Individuas with no prior exposure to varicella virus develop clinical symptoms of chickenpox, while those with a previouw varicella infection developed a localized zoster.