Touchwood Pharmacy

If you’ve ever known anyone who has had shingles, then you know you don’t want to get it! Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the chicken pox virus.   Shingles is painful, but preventable – that’s the good news. Shingles is 90% preventable when you’ve had the Shingles vaccine.       What Is Shingles?   The varicella-zoster virus is responsible for both chicken pox and shingles. You can only get shingles if you’ve previously had Chicken Pox.  Once the chicken pox virus is in your body, it never goes away, and it can appear later as shingles. Shingles create a rash of blisters with a red base that can be painful. It's also very contagious. Shingles usually runs its course in 7 to 10 days.  The most effective way to avoid getting shingles is by getting vaccinated.   Shingles Vaccine   The Shingrix vaccine for Shingles is considered more than 90% effective. Two doses of Shingrix are recommended for the prevention of shingles.   You can get it even if you’ve had shingl

Prevention of viral hepatitis starts with getting your health travel vaccine if you live in Northolt, Ramsgate, or Streatham. Learn more here . Viral hepatitis is an infection in the liver that causes it to be inflamed and eventually damaged. Recently, studies have discovered several variants of viruses that cause hepatitis. These include hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Many people don't realize that they've acquired the virus in its early stages. Hepatitis only exhibits mild or no symptoms at all in its early stages. But, each type of virus causes can cause varying degrees of symptoms. How to Know if You Have Hepatitis Hepatitis A, B, and C manifest the following symptoms: fever, loss of appetite, malaise, nausea, abdominal discomfort, diarrhoea, jaundice, and dark-coloured urine. Some cases also record chronic liver infections that may eventually develop into liver cirrhosis or cancer. Only people with hepatitis B are susceptible to acquiring hepatitis D. People infected with bo

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease with unknown origins. AIH is immune-mediated and affects 16-18 out of a 100,000 populace in Europe. AIH is known for its unusual and adaptive immune response that targets liver autoantigens and other cells that can lead to liver inflammation. If untreated, AIH can cause chronic hepatitis, leading to progressive fibrosis and eventually liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. But how does AIH affect pregnant women? AIH During Pregnancies Various factors affect a person's exposure to AIH. These factors include genetics and the current environment that the patient is living in. Autoimmune hepatitis  primarily affects females who are at a young, child-bearing age. Recently, studies have shown that pregnant patients with AIH are increasing due to developments in vitro fertilization and other advanced gynaecological procedures. Pregnant patients with AIH can experience disease remission during pregnancy. These women will have to deal with so