How is Shingles Related to Chicken Pox?

It is a common misconception among adults that once we’ve had chicken pox as children, we won’t have to suffer through the chicken pox.

Chicken pox is caused by the herpes zoster virus. Some health professionals believe that after initial infection, the virus remains in the body in an inactive state in the dorsal root ganglia. If conditions are right in an adult that has had chicken pox, the herpes zoster virus can resurface as a much more painful version called Shingles.

Shingles are also known as adult chicken pox. It can resurface when a patient is under stress or the immune system is compromised. It is characterized when groups of vesicles, fluid-filled blisters, break out along cutaneous nerve distributions, mainly along one side of the trunk.

The symptoms include fever lasting several days with persistent headache, lower energy levels, digestive problems, chills, itching where the rash will develop, and most distinctive is the rash that occurs along the trunk of the body.

Those with highest risk of developing it are those with compromised immune systems due to diseases that damage the immune system like AIDS or cancer or medications that suppress the immune system. It also occurs often in adults over 50 and seems to accompany high stress.

Researchers have found that it is hard to spread, but at certain stages are contagious. It is most contagious when the patient has blisters that are oozing fluid and until the blisters are covered with crust. Carefully covering the blisters during this phase of the disease can prevent its spread.