How Easy to Spread Contagious Is Shingles to a Baby

Medical Review By: Ted Schiff, MD

Shingles is miserable. The painful, fluid-filled blisters can last weeks before they crust over and disappear, and in some people, nerve pain lasts even longer. If you take shingles, yous probably wouldn't wish it on anyone. While you're waiting for the outbreak to finish, if you take children or grandchildren you may be asking yourself, "Is shingles contagious to kids and babies?"

The answer is no, you can't give them — or other adults — shingles. Just that doesn't mean there is no risk in exposing them. Kids can be vulnerable for another, surprising reason. Here'southward what you demand to know near shingles transmission.

The relationship between shingles and chickenpox

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), a member of the canker family of viruses. What many people don't realize is that this same virus also causes chickenpox. If you had chickenpox every bit a child, yous're vulnerable to shingles every bit an adult.

Here'due south how it works: When you lot recover from chickenpox, the virus retreats to nerve tissues almost the spinal cord, where it typically remains dormant (inactive). But it tin exist reactivated later in life, perhaps by stress, illness, a weakened immune arrangement or physical injury. When that happens, information technology moves along the nerves to the skin and causes an outbreak of shingles.

Once you've had chickenpox, y'all become vulnerable to shingles for the rest of your life.

How to avoid spreading the VZV virus

While kids can't catch shingles from you, they could catch chickenpox if they've never had information technology or were never fully vaccinated confronting it (with both doses of the chickenpox vaccine). Once they develop chickenpox, they will also exist vulnerable to shingles later in life.

For someone to catch chickenpox from a case of shingles, shingles has to exist in the active phase, when the blisters are oozing fluid. At that place's no take a chance of transmission before blisters appear or subsequently they have dried and crusted over. Passing it on requires direct contact with the blister fluid — say, when y'all cuddle your grandson and his skin touches your rash. Fortunately, the VZV virus is less contagious when an adult has shingles than when a child has chickenpox.

Preventing the spread of VZV when you have shingles is relatively simple: Cover your blisters during the oozing stage with nonstick sterile bandages. Hydrocolloid adhesive pads, available at many drugstores, are a smart choice. Avert scratching the blisters.

While you're contagious, avert contact with people for whom chickenpox poses an increased take chances, including:

• Pregnant women who've never had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine
• Premature or low-nascence weight infants
• Anyone with a weakened immune system, including people undergoing chemotherapy or taking immunosuppressive drugs and people with HIV

Preventing shingles and chickenpox

Children who haven't had chickenpox can avoid falling ill by getting both doses of the chickenpox vaccine. The Centers for Affliction Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and the 2d dose between the ages of 4 and six.

Teenagers and adults who've never had chickenpox may also do good from getting the vaccine.

The CDC recommends older adults get a shingles vaccine since the risk of shingles and the long-term nervus hurting that sometimes follows (known as mail service-herpetic neuralgia) increases with historic period. The Shingrix vaccine, which has been in employ since 2017, is the preferred shingles vaccine for adults age l and over. It has been shown to be 97% constructive in preventing shingles in adults ages 50 to 69 who received two doses. An older shingles vaccine, Zostavax, is being phased out.

Shingles treatment tips

Shingles usually lasts 2 to four weeks and generally doesn't recur. If you tin can go a diagnosis from your md within the first three days — non always easy, since your merely symptoms may be a burning/tingling/itching sensation on one expanse of the skin — an oral antiviral medication may shorten the duration and the severity of the outbreak.

An over-the-counter or prescription hurting medication can assistance ease the hurting. For the itching, try cool compresses, calamine balm and lukewarm baths with store-bought or homemade colloidal oatmeal (oats ground into a fine powder) sprinkled in.

Article Written By:Jennifer L. Melt, an award-winning editor and writer whose work has appeared in Practiced Housekeeping, Prevention, Consumer Reports on Health, and Adult female'southward Day and on Investopedia.com and Bottomlineinc.com.

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Source: https://www.wederm.com/2020/10/23/is-shingles-contagious-to-kids/#:~:text=While%20you're%20waiting%20for,%E2%80%94%20or%20other%20adults%20%E2%80%94%20shingles.