Shingles: Can it spread?

Shingles and chickenpox share a similarity: they are both caused by varicella zoster virus. Shingles is also called Herpes Zoster. Can shingles spread to you? Well, it’s a bit complicated: shingles cannot spread shingles but can spread chickenpox; chickenpox can spread chickenpox but cannot spread shingles.

In other words, if you haven’t got chickenpox yet, you can get chickenpox from a person with chickenpox or shingles. If you already have chickenpox, of course you won’t get chickenpox anymore and you CAN’T get shingles from a person with shingles. If you already have both chickenpox and shingles before, then you can’t get both anymore.

Shingles only can occur in people who already have chickenpox before, where the virus remains “hiding” in the nerve. For some not so well-understood reason (usually related to poor immunity), shingles will pop up as a patch/patches or a band of blisters. It can be at any part of the body but not all over the body. It is more common in elderly >50 years old.

    Blisters in clusters

Shingles is extremely painful, and it usually last 2-4 weeks, sometimes it heals with scar. Anti-viral drugs if given early enough within 72 hours may reduce the severity and duration of shingles. Strong pain-killer is certainly required. Sometimes the pain may last for > 1 month even after the skin lesion has disappeared. This is a complication called post-herpetic neuralgia which can happen in about 10-15% of people with shingles. This troublesome condition may require more potent medicine to control the pain.

Not like chickenpox, shingles cannot spread through the air. It is transmitted through direct contact with the blister fluid. Thus, if you don’t want to get chickenpox, you not only need to avoid contact with chickenpox sufferers, but also shingles sufferers as well. Or you may consider getting a vaccine for chickenpox.