How Chicken Pox is Related To Shingles

[Guest guest]

Some of you have reported that you had shingles, I did while on Gleevec.

Thought I would pass this on to anyone who has not had shingles as well

as those who had.

ZOSAVAX VACCINE APPPROVED FOR ELDERS WITH SHINGLES

Merck's Zostavax, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to

assist in the prevention of shingles for people over 60, has now been approved

for those born later and can now be prescribed to persons 50 years of age and

older.

Shingles is characterized by a rash of blisters, which generally develop in a

band on one side of the body and can cause severe pain that may last for weeks,

and in some people, for months or years after the episode.

After you get chickenpox, the virus remains inactive (becomes dormant) in

certain nerves in the body. Shingles occurs after the virus becomes active again

in these nerves years later. The reason the virus suddenly becomes active again

is not clear. Often only one attack occurs.

Shingles may develop in any age group, but you are more likely to develop the

condition if you are older than 6, had chickenpox before your first birthday or

your immune system is weakened by medications or disease.

If an adult or child has direct contact with the shingles rash on someone and

has not had chickenpox as a child or a chickenpox vaccine, they can develop

chickenpox, rather than shingles.

In the United States shingles affects approximately 200,000 healthy people

between the ages of 50 and 59, per year. It is a disease caused by the

varicella-zoster virus, which is a virus in the herpes family and the same virus

that causes chickenpox.

If an adult or child has direct contact with the shingles rash on someone and

has not had chickenpox as a child or a chickenpox vaccine, they can develop

chickenpox, rather than shingles.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/220273.php

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu