Holly Willoughby has been forced to take an unexpected break from This Morning due to having shingles. The presenter was due back on the ITV daytime show on Monday (April 17) for the first time in a number of weeks along with Phillip Schofield after enjoying time off for the Easter holidays.
But in an Instagram post shared by both Holly and This Morning on Sunday (April 16), the 42-year-old confirmed her return had been hit by a setback and that she'd be away for a "few days" - or the whole week - due to being struck down by the painful infection.
She wrote on the distinctive green This Morning logo backdrop: "Hi ...just to let you know I may be away for the rest of the week as I have Shingles," she said with frustrated-face emoji. Holly added: "I'll be back as soon as I'm better. Huge Love."
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According to the NHS, shingles is an infection caused by the chickenpox virus that causes a painful rash. It is common to get the shingles rash on the chest or abdomen but it can appear anywhere on the body including the face, eyes and genitals, the health service said.
People should get advice from 111 as soon as possible if they think they have it. But what are the first signs? According to the Shingles Support Society (SSS), red patches are usually the first sign of the rash appearing but there may also be itching, tingling or burning under the skin, pain around the area and "fluid-filled blisters" that burst and turn into sores before they dry out.
Around 194,000 people in England and Wales get shingles every year, the SSS website said. The charity added: “We call it chickenpox when we first catch it. "The virus hides away in the body and can appear again at any age. When this happens, we call it shingles. This can be at any age but it is more likely to occur as we get older." The rash can take up to five weeks to heal.
For treating shingles at home, the NHS website advises taking paracetamol, keeping the rash clean and dry, wearing loose-fitting clothes and using a cool compress a few times a day. It warns against letting dressings or plasters stick to the rash or using antibiotic cream.
The health service also urges those infected to stay away from certain groups of people to avoid spreading chickenpox, including pregnant people who have not had chickenpox before, people with a weakened immune system and babies less than one month old. A vaccination is available on the NHS for people in their 70s.
Former This Morning star Eamonn Holmes has previously shared how he could have been blind after being struck down with shingles. how he could have been blind after being struck down with shingles said that the virus hit him so hard it looked "as if someone had taken a baseball bat to my face". His shingles attack came on in 2018, just two weeks before his eldest son Declan's wedding.
Describing the illness he said: "It was bloody scary to see it. It looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to my face and smashed me about a bit." He went on: “Blindness could have been a complication in my case. The doctor said it’s really bad for you because it’s around your eyes, and could be bad for your ophthalmic nerves. Medically, it was pretty serious."
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