An electron micrograph of the varicella zoster virus, which causes both chicken pox and shingles (Science Photo Library / Heather Davis / Getty ) October 25, 2017. Share. Save.

Shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus responsible for chicken pox: the varicella zoster virus. Even if you had chicken pox in the past ...

Chickenpox Symptoms . The varicella-zoster virus causes chickenpox. The main symptom is a red, itchy rash. This rash typically starts on the chest, back, and face and then spreads to other body parts.

And unlike the chicken pox, where spots are likely to show up all over the body, shingles are confined to one side of a nerve, said Dr. Joseph Rahimian, an infectious disease specialist at St ...

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. When people are first infected with the varicella-zoster virus, usually as children, they get chickenpox.

After a child has chicken pox, many parents are told that they will never have to worry about this childhood illness again. However, this information is not entirely correct.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 56-year-old male who never had the chicken pox. When the first of my children was born, I had blood tests done to see if I’d ever been exposed. I had not, so I received ...

The chicken pox vaccine leaves a live, weakened virus dormant within nerve cells, where it could later cause shingles. But there’s early evidence that the vaccine may offer some protection .

DEAR DR. ROACH: A few months ago, you wrote about the benefits of the shingles vaccine. At 63, I’m one of the 1% who has never had, nor been exposed to, chicken pox. I was tested in 2022 for ...

People who have shingles can also spread chicken pox to others. “People develop shingles all the time, so there’s still potential for exposure,” Murase said. A vaccine is available to ...

For most of the time that humans have walked on Earth and scratched at itchy, red rashes, there was no reason to think chicken pox and shingles are related. They look so different.

DEAR DR. ROACH: A few months ago, you wrote about the benefits of the shingles vaccine. At 63, I’m one of the 1% who has never had, nor been exposed to, chicken pox. I was tested in 2022 for varicella ...