Just wanted to add you can have had shingles without ever having chicken pox and although rare you can get them at any time (I had shingles at the age of 5 but never had chicken pox). Shingles and chicken pox are in the same family but are different and look different. I have not had another outbreak since the age of 5 although I have been exposed to chicken pox.
AnswerMost cases of shingles are caused by the varicella-zoster virus. A few are caused by herpes simplex. So, yes, it is possible to get shingles from a latent herpes simplex infection if you have never had chicken pox.No, you cannot get shingles if you never had chicken pox. However, you can get chicken pox from exposure to the virus in shingles if you never had chicken pox before.
Chicken pox is a one-time illness, usually in childhood. It does not matter how "mild" or "bad" the chicken pox is. The body's defenses are activated whether "mild" or "bad" and immunity results. No person acquires chicken pox twice.
Shingles is caused by the same virus but with shingles, the virus is re-activated within the person's own body (not from catching the chicken pox virus from someone else). A person who never had chicken pox cannot get shingles; but that person who never had chicken pox can get chicken pox.
A person who has shingles can infect others with chicken pox, but only if those persons (usually children) never had chicken pox before. If a person with shingles is around a person/child who already had chicken pox, the other people won't get chicken pox or shingles.
The defining factors in shingles are:
The ONLY way to have had shingles is to have had chicken pox before. Chicken pox typically affects children. The case could be mild, moderate, or severe. The body is exposed to the virus, and successfully develops antibodies to that virus. That person can never get chicken pox again.
But, later in life, often after age 50, a person who previously had chicken pox can then develop shingles. The virus of shingles is contagious during the time that the sores are open and weeping-- just like in chicken pox. So a person who has shingles currently with open sores can infect a child who has never had chicken pox but typically only with direct contact with the fluid coming from the sores. But a child who previously had chicken pox is typically protected and will not "re-get" chicken pox from an adult with shingles.
An adult who never, ever had chicken pox as a child who comes in contact with a child who has chicken pox will then be exposed and at risk to develop chicken pox.
An adult who never, ever had chicken pox as a child who comes in contact with an adult who has shingles, and is exposed to the fluid from the sores, will develop chicken pox--- not shingles.
Once any person -- adult or child-- has had chicken pox and the sores dry, crust, and disappear, they then "carry" the virus but cannot infect anyone because the open, weeping sores are gone.
Once any person -- adult or child-- has had chicken pox and the sores dry, crust, and disappear, they then "carry" the virus and are then at risk to develop shingles at any time, usually after age 50. The person would not "re-get" chicken pox.
Shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus. You do not get shingles from someone with shingles; you get chickenpox from someone with shingles. Then when you get older, you will get shingles because you had chickenpox. Or, you might get older and never get chickenpox. In that case, you will thank your mother for having you vaccinated against chickenpox when you were a child.
No. You can however catch chickenpox from the shingles if you've never had them before. The shingles themselves come from a dormant chickenpox virus in your skin tissue.
No. You only get shingles's if you have had chickenpox. No chickenpox no shingles's.
First, you can't get shingles at any age unless you have previously had chickenpox. Although your chickenpox illness may have been so mild that you didn't notice, a diagnosis of shingles is proof that you had chickenpox. Second, only those who have never had chickenpox can get chickenpox from shingles. Third, shingles is only contagious through direct contact with wet lesions, and is not likely to be spread through casual contact.
IF you're going to get chickenpox from a shingles exposure, it would take between 10 and 21 days to get chickenpox. You'd have to never have had chickenpox before to get shingles, however, even if you'd never had chickenpox, you still might not catch them from being exposed to shingles.
Chickenpox and shingles are found throughout the world.
Shingles and chickenpox can only be transferred by someone who is infected.
You can't get shingles from someone with chickenpox, whatever your other medical conditions. You only get shingles from reactivation of your own prior infection with chickenpox virus.
You could get chicken pox if you have never had it before. However, while your chances of getting chicken pox from someone with shingles is in the realm of possibility, you will rarely come across someone with shingles, since they are mostly home with the illness.
No. While you can catch chickenpox, shingles comes from a virus already within you (chickenpox virus) so you can only have shingles if you have previously had chickenpox. I myself had shingles back when I was in the fourth grade but neither my brother nor my sister ever had it.
No, it is not.
No, there is no reason to get chickenpox vaccine if you've had shingles. You should talk with your health care provider about shingles vaccine.