Your Questions About Shingles

admin answers:

You cannot catch shingles, it only occurs in people who have had chicken pox and is caused by the virus reactivating along a nerve path. Theoretically a new born could catch chickenpox from a shingles sufferer but it is unlikely as there would have to be close contact, i.e. Baby being touched by one of the spots. It is not airborne, unlike chickenpox.
The risk to a newborn (2 wks old or less) is that they can contract a severe form of the illness. If you are concerned speak to your GP or health visitor for reassurance.

admin answers:

Shingles (Herpes Zoster) and Chicken pox are caused by the same virus. If you have shingles, those in contact with you can get chicken pox from you. But no body is going to get shingles from you. Shingles are caused by dormant virus present in the body after an attack of chicken pox. So though shingles won’t be spread to others, anybody in contact with you can get chicken pox if they haven’t got it before.

admin answers:

No. Shingles is not a transmittable disease, it develops from stress, because they virus responsible is an agent from the chicken pox, and never leaves the body. It only remains dormant within the neurons, and becomes active through age, and/or stress. It cannot be received from another person.

admin answers:

Are shingles catching?

Yes. Shingles can be spread from an affected person to children or adults who have not had chickenpox. Instead of developing shingles, these people develop chickenpox. Once they have had chickenpox, people cannot catch shingles (or contract the virus) from someone else. Once infected, however, persons have the potential to develop shingles later in life.

Shingles are contagious, to persons that have not previously had chicken pox, as long as there are new blisters forming and old blisters healing. Once all of the blisters are crusted over, the virus can no longer be spread.

admin answers:

Shingles isn’t a new infection, it’s the reactivation of the viral infection that causes chickenpox. So you can’t catch shingles from your mother.

If it does reactivate, it’s usually a number of years later, but technically at anytime.

It’s less than clear why this happens, it could be due to changes in the immune system or a physical or emotional shock. It’s more likely to happen if your immune system is weakened through drugs or certain illnesses or in the elderly.
=============================================
Edit @ Lisa: Here you are again with the half truths. Actually that’s not the main reason the varicella vaccine is not included as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule here in the UK. The main reasons are cost and also, there is a concern that adding another vaccine to routine childhood immunization schedule may cause another drop in immunization rates, which although are rising again, are still below what is required to confer immunity on the community (thanks to, well to be blunt, people like you and that damn fool Wakefield).

The other reason is as you say, there is some concern that if the vaccine was added to the immunization schedule it might result in a rise in the cases of shingles in adults. But this is a theoretical risk, Lisa. The jury is still out as to whether or not the chickenpox vaccine would increase the incidence of shingles. Data from countries where the chickenpox vaccine has been established for about at least a decade, produce no compelling evidence to support your claim.

Anyway, the theoretical risk could possibly be satisfied by vaccinating the over 70s against shingles.