Wellness and Shingles - A stress disease

We have recently seen several patients in our office who have shingles. This is an extremely painful ailment characterized by a blistering rash usually on the torso or face, and it can involve the eye. The relatives of these patients invariably ask whether the shingles is contagious. The answer is no. Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. This is the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you had chickenpox when you were a child, the virus remains dormant in your body for as long as you live. It can re-emerge later to cause shingles.

Usually the outbreak occurs in people who for one reason or another have a depressed immune system. If you have never had chicken pox, you can catch that from someone with shingles, but the virus is less easily transmitted from a shingles patient than from someone with chickenpox which is highly contagious.

There is a new vaccine for shingles approved for people 60 and over. It will prevent about half of all cases of shingles and will reduce the severity of an attack if it does occur.