Are shingles contagious? There are certain times that shingles are contagious to other people, only if they have not been exposed to the virus. A person with a shingles rash can pass the virus to someone, usually a child, who has never had chickenpox, but the child will develop chickenpox, not shingles. The child must come into direct contact with the open sores of the shingles rash.
Merely being in the same room with a shingles patient will not cause the child to catch chickenpox. During a shingles infection the virus is not normally in the lungs and therefore can’t be spread through the air. With some shingles medications you can treat shingles to help get rid of the shingles outbreak.
Many people have received the shingles vaccine to help prevent future outbreaks. Also, there are some treatments that you can use to help prevent shingles from being contagious, which will help prevent you spreading shingles to another person, at times. Remember, you might not think you are contagious to other people, but would you want to really give someone else shingles?
People with chickenpox cannot communicate shingles to someone else although they can of course pass the chickenpox on to someone who has never had chickenpox. In cases of chickenpox, the virus can become airborne because it is found in the upper respiratory tract.
Shingles occurs when an unknown trigger causes the virus hiding inside the person’s body to become activated. Unlike chickenpox, shingles can’t be “caught” from someone else. Shingles treatments can offer some relief from the pain associated with shingles and can help you get over the shingles outbreak faster.
As early as 1909, a German scientist suspected that the viruses causing chickenpox and shingles were one and the same. In the 1920s and 1930s, the case was strengthened. As part of an experiment, children were inoculated with fluid from the lesions of patients with shingles. Within two weeks, about half the children came down with chickenpox.
Finally, in 1958, detailed analysis of the viruses taken from patients with either chickenpox or shingles confirmed that the viruses were identical. The virus that causes shingles and chickenpox is known as the varicella-zoster virus.
Based on these studies, it was shown that a person with shingles (also known as herpes zoster) can pass the varicella-zoster virus to others, but these individuals would develop chickenpox instead of shingles. Therefore, a person with shingles cannot transmit shingles to another person. In other words, in order for a person to develop shingles, he or she must already harbor the chickenpox virus in the nervous system. When this virus becomes active again, the individual will develop shingles.
So, to sum it up, shingles are contagious to people that have not had chickenpox. They are not contagious without contact to the individual. The most at risk are children. Shingles are contagious under certain circumstances to everyone. Shingles vaccine can help you prevent future outbreaks of the shingles disease and shingles treatments can help relieve the shingles pain.
There are many shingles treatments if you do get shingles, however if you aren’t sure if you have shingles, the best method is to stay away from other people during a potential outbreak. Some of the treatments that you can receive are recommended by your Doctor, however you can also find topical skin creams that will help sooth the pain and itching, calming teas and other foods that can sometimes help with the pain through holistic approaches and other natural remedies that might help. As each individual is different, so is what might possibly help you deal with an outbreak and the pain and itching that is often associated with it.
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November 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I recently got shingles. The rash is 3 days old. I am worried I can pass it to my parents. Do they have to touch me? Is it in the air (Like a four hour car ride?) My daughter in-law is 3 months pregnant? I work in a classroom all day with kids. Other than a bad back ace /stomach ace is it going to get worse????
March 5th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Im not sure about all the answers but I do know for sure that you are not suppose to be around anyone who is pregnant if you have shingles it can cause deformities in their child. I’m pregnant and work in a nursing home and the home has to tell me everyone who has shingles because I am not allowed to go into their room. Hope this helps..
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I just got diagnosed with shingles. I have suffered with pain and nausea for months but did not break out in a rash until just two days ago, and my nausea had seemed to get better, but my back ache got so bad, still hurts so bad, I am on vicodine and some other medication the dr gave me, but since learning the nerve pain could last years and now scared to death, this pain is horrible and completely disabling, I can not stand this for years.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:14 am
My rat bastard boss came to work today with an active shingles infection. That son of a bitch should be shot for exposing us to his filthy disease.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:01 am
The doctor seems to think that my husband is going to break out in shingles. He has had a terrible itching on his upper arm & lower inner arm. He has not broken out yet. My teenage son & I have never had the chicken pox. We had the vaccine for it. If my husband breaks out with shingles and my son and I have had the vaccine, could there be a chance that we could get chicken pox from him??? Thanks!
May 5th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Hi Dee,
Yes, even with the shingles vaccine for someone that has not had chicken pox before, you could still run the risk of getting shingles. There is another good site that has some information about the shingles vaccine that could be a resource for you. Although your chances of getting the shingles after the vaccine are slim, there is always a chance, so err on the side of caution.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Thanks Charles for the laugh. I sympathize with your feelings as it can be highly contagious, you might want to mention this site to him.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:28 am
I have had the vaccine for shingles a few months ago and now I have the shingles. It is not impossible to still get shingles even with the vaccine. I also have had chicken pox years ago.