My boss is about one year out of chemo and is of course prone to more illness due to her weak immune system. Well she came in today and told us that she has shingles. If you aren't aware of what shingles are its, from what I understand, highly contagious adult form of chicken pox.
My boss is the cashier for my office so every customer that I have takes her a receipt then brings the receipt back to my desk and it stays in a pile on my desk (actually everybody has to bring there receipts to me)
Should I be concerned?
Re: should I be concerned? Haven't seen this yet...
Have you had chicken pox? My understanding is that if you have had chicken pox, you are immune to shingles...you might want to check with your Dr. though. GL
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/shingles/shingles-topic-overview
"What causes shingles?
Shingles occurs when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body. After you get better from chickenpox, the virus "sleeps" (is dormant) in your nerve roots. In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus "wakes up" when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox.
You can't catch shingles from someone else who has shingles. But a person with a shingles rash can spread chickenpox to another person who hasn't had chickenpox and who hasn't gotten the chickenpox vaccine."
I would check with your doctor, but it looks like you can't get it from other people. You could only get chicken pox from them if you haven't had chicken pox.
ahh thanks for the link!
I have had chickenpox but I didn't know with my weakened immune system if I was prone to catching it. Thanks ladies
My MIL had shingles while I was in my first trimester. Her doc advised she stay away from pregnant women and young children as those with compromised immune systems can get the chicken pox even if they've previously had the pox. Keep in mind the infected person would have to touch the area that is shedding then touch you in order to pass it along.
Shingles is what adults get who usually have had chicken pox but the virus remains dormant in their system. At some point in adult life, it may re-emerge in the form of shingles. I know, I have had it.
If you have had chicken pox, you don't need to worry, you are immune to the virus. If you were to get shingles it would be from the orginal chicken pox virus you got as a kid re-emerging in your own body, not from catching it from someone else. If you have not had chicken pox and been exposed, you should most likely end up with a case of chicken pox, not shingles, which is serious in adults and you should contact your doctor.
If you haven't had chicken pox, stay away!! But if you have, you'll be fine....you can't catch shingles from shingles..
I had shingles early on with this pregnancy and I was REALLY freaked out at first, but my Dr. told me that I already had the varicella virus in my system, I should be fine.