Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles. Shingles is more common in persons with depressed immune systems and in persons over the age of 50, but it can also occur in children. Typically, the symptoms in children are milder than in adults. People with weakened immune systems may have more severe disease.

• Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, the varicella zoster virus, can spread from a person with active shingles to cause chickenpox in someone who had never had chickenpox  or received chickenpox vaccine.
• The virus is spread through direct contact with fluid from the rash blisters caused by shingles.
• A person with active shingles can spread the virus when the rash is in the blister-phase. A person is not infectious before the blisters appear. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer infectious.
• Shingles is less contagious than chickenpox and the risk of a person with shingles spreading the virus is low if the rash is covered.

Shingles is a painful rash that develops on one side of the face or body. The rash consists of blisters that typically scab over in 7 to 10 days. The rash usually clears up within 2 to 4 weeks. Before the rash develops, people often have pain, itching, or tingling in the area where the rash will develop. This may happen anywhere from 1 to 5 days before the rash appears. Most commonly, the rash occurs in a single stripe around either the left or the right side of the body. In other cases, the rash occurs on one side of the face. In rare cases (usually among people with weakened immune systems), the rash may be more widespread and look similar to a chickenpox rash. Shingles can affect the eye and cause loss of vision.

Other symptoms of shingles can include:

• Fever
• Headache
• Chills
• Upset stomach