Could your Child Catch Shingles?

Shingles can be a painful and debilitating malady, but luckily shingles are not terribly contagious to children. If a child does contract the Herpes Zoster virus, it will usually present as chicken pox. Even after a kid has suffered through the pox, discounting a major health issue, the disease should lie dormant for many years.

Shingles is a rash caused by the Varicella strain, the same virus that causes chicken pox. Usually an individual is infected as a child, and then the disease lies dormant in the nervous system. Sometimes in periods of severe stress, or immunodeficiency, the Varicella virus will reappear. Often though, the illness occurs without any indication. Everyone with a the inactive Varicella strain is at risk, but the virus mostly presents in the elderly.

Herpes zoster, the medical name for the disease, presents in a rash that starts with small red blisters. The blisters will then form band like strands. This is because the blisters occur along the path of nerves that branch out from the spinal cord. An entire nerve path can be covered in blisters, or there can be random gaps in the bands. The blisters eventually pop and ooze, and then scab over. Often the patient will notice a burning pain for weeks before the rash even develops; occasionally a rash will never develop at all. Outbreaks can last weeks from beginning to end.

Shingles are, unfortunately, quite contagious. The virus can even spread from an infected person to another adult or child who has yet to be exposed to the Varicella strain in any form. Usually if this is the case, however, the disease will present as chicken pox. The virus is contagious at any point while the blisters are being formed or seeping. Once all the blisters have crusted over, the disease is no longer catching and cannot be passed on.

Anyone who has ever contracted the chicken pox has the potential to suffer from the Herpes Zoster virus in a different form later in life. Due to the fact that the Varicella strain almost always presents as chicken pox initially, the risk of a young person exhibiting the virus in the form of shingles is low. So luckily shingles are not very contagious to children, but the same cannot be said for adults! Always make sure to take care of yourself when dealing with an Varicella infected child, so you can make sure you are fully able to take care of your little ones!