View Full Version : Catching shingles
oldmacdonald
Dec 17, 2014, 09:23 AM
Is the only way a person,who has never had chicken pox,catch shingles,from a person who has shingles with oozing sores? I would like to know, in detail,all about passing shingles to other people.
J_9
Dec 17, 2014, 09:36 AM
If you have never had chicken pox you can't catch shingles. To contract shingles one must have had chicken pox earlier in life.
Wondergirl
Dec 17, 2014, 10:52 AM
J_9 is correct. I thought I had never had chicken pox, despite never breaking out when my siblings had them and when my students had them years later when I was teaching. But in 2008, lo and behold, a weird bunch of pus-y bumps appeared across my back. My doctor took one look and said, "Yup, you have shingles" and concluded that I must have had a very mild case of chicken pox somewhere along the line.
You may have had chicken pox and don't remember it or didn't realize it.
J_9. who should get a shingles shot?
joypulv
Dec 17, 2014, 11:48 AM
WAIT!!!!
Shingles CAN spread the virus to people who have never had chickenpox or been vaccinated, and give them chickenpox, but cannot give them shingles. Usually when open sores.