Did you know? The same virus that causes chickenpox also causes shingles.
Although shingles and chickenpox are caused by the same virus, they are not the same illness. Chickenpox is usually a milder illness that affects children. Shingles results from a reactivation of the virus long after the chickenpox illness has disappeared.
The chickenpox virus stays in the body even after recovery. Later in life, the virus can reactivate and cause shingles. If you have shingles, you can spread the varicella virus to people who have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine. These people will develop chickenpox, not shingles. It takes from 10 to 21 days after exposure to chickenpox or shingles for someone to develop chickenpox.
What are the symptoms?
Chickenpox (Varicella)
Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
How contagious is it?
Chickenpox (Varicella)
Chickenpox is very contagious. The virus can spread by breathing in the viral particles that come from the blisters. It can also be spread by direct contact with the fluid of skin lesions. A person with chickenpox can spread the disease from 1 to 2 days before they get the rash, until all their chickenpox blisters have formed scabs.
Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. Someone with an infectious shingles rash can spread chickenpox if the other person has never had chickenpox. However, someone with shingles will not cause another person to develop shingles.
Is there a vaccine?
Chickenpox (Varicella)
There are two vaccine options:
Shingles (Herpes Zoster)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that healthy adults 50 years and older get the shingles vaccine.
How can these diseases be prevented?
The best way to prevent chickenpox and shingles is to get vaccinated.
Additional resources:
The CDC—Chickenpox: https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/
The CDC—Shingles: https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/index.html
The CDC—Handwashing: https://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/
APIC—Herpes Zoster: https://apic.org/For-Consumers/Monthly-alerts-for-consumers/Article?id=herpes-zoster-vaccineprotection-that-adds-up
NFID—Chickenpox (Varicella): http://www.nfid.org/idinfo/chickenpox