Common questions about shingles answered
My three young children have come down with chicken pox and I've just heard that adults can get shingles from the same virus. Is this true?
Shingles is an infection in a nerve caused by the virus, herpes zoster, that also causes chickenpox. Although contact with someone with chicken pox may cause it, shingles usually develops as a reactivation of the chicken pox virus lying dormant in the nerve for many years.
Shingles can occur when the virus is stirred into activity by stress or by a loss of natural immunity as we get older.
My husband had shingles a couple of years ago. Could he get it again?
Although it is possible to suffer a second attack of shingles, the initial outbreak generally protects you from a second one and gives lifelong immunity.
What's the difference between chicken pox and shingles?
Chicken pox tends to be a mild disease but is highly contagious. Children tend to become lethargic and develop a mild fever while adults who contract chicken pox complain of a flu-like illness. Chicken pox spots break out in crops over three to four days and initially resemble pimples.
After a few hours they form blisters which soon burst leaving tiny open sores.
The sores eventually develop scabs which dry and can be very itchy. After recovery, life-long immunity can be expected.
Shingles tend to affect the older person and in addition to feeling unwell and having a mild fever the main symptoms of the condition are rash and pain. The rash can appear on almost any part of the body but the most common sites are the right or left side of the chest, the abdomen or the face. Pain can vary from mild to very severe and has been described as burning or knife-like.
The pain precedes the rash and can last for up to four weeks after the blisters disappear. However, in a minority of people the pain can persist for longer.
Groups of blisters appear on the skin that is supplied by the nerve affected. They also itch and crust over. The rash tends to disappear in about seven days but can leave the skin scarred or discoloured.
Is it true that if the rash spreads around the body and meets in the middle you can die?
This is an old wives tale and as old wives were never renowned for their accuracy or cheerful disposition, you can rest assured this is not the case.