Shingles- should we be worried?

[aplthtoa]

10 year old has a weird rash on side of his body, is otherwise fine, only the size of maybe 2 50p coins. But as it's been several days and hasn't gone we contacted Drs, nurse is saying shingles and told DH nothing we can do and just give him paracetamol if he becomes unwell.

We've all had chicken pox. He's absolutely fine in himself. I thought shingles was meant to be awful, should we be keeping him home? Should we be worried we're about to get very ill?

I had shingles as a kid and wasn’t ill at all, just had a rash.

I had shingles as an adult and was out of action for a month.

So it depends.

My two year old had shingles and by the time we realised it was too late for the anti viral medicine the doctor could have prescribed. He got over it and all is fine. The only problem was he was woken by the rash hurting him at night a little. All well now 13 years later!

Why would you get very ill? You can't catch shingles from shingles.

If the rash can be covered then he can go out and about as long as he feels well enough. The shingles rash can pass on chickenpox by direct contact with fluid from the blisters as its not airborne like chickenpox itself.

my ds had shingles age 3 after having chickenpox at 5½ months. Was misdiagnosed to start with as eczema so we didn't realise to start with what it was. He still has the scars around the side of his body under his arm.

@dementedpixie sorry I don't mean to be daft I haven't come across it before, it's just always one of those illnesses I thought could make you very poorly, had a member of staff whose dad had it and he was unwell for weeks. So we wouldn't get shingles from him then?

DD got shingles around 8 years old, the only reason I took her to the doctors was she kept on complaining the rash hurt. She was absolutely fine, they advised that I cover it while she was at school just as a precaution. The only way you can catch chicken pox from shingles is by touching the rash, it's not very contagious. She wasn't very ill with it.

No, it's a reactivation of the chickenpox virus and can occur if you are feeling rundown or stressed, etc. You can't catch it from him and would only be in danger of catching chickenpox from it if you'd never had CP before and had contact with the fluid from the blisters.

You can catch chicken pox from close contact with shingles if you haven't been previously infected. He should stay at home until the rash has scabbed over, as far as I'm aware but your doctor can advise. Contact your GP and see if he's eligible for the anti virals. My husband ended up in a and e with shingles and they literally isolated him. He went with shingles, not because of it.

Not if you've all had CP

He doesn't need to stay home if the rash can be covered as it's not passed on through the air. It seems to cause more issues in adults than in children

@aplthtoa you can only get chicken pox from someone with shingles. Shingles develops later from the dormant chicken pox virus.

The older you are when you develop it the more ill you tend to be with it, which is the main reason they now vaccinate older people against shingles.

But you can get CP from Shingles if you've never had CP.
Probably best to keep him away from other children who haven't had CP.

Thanks all, I feel reassured! It's quite a small rash (easily coverable) and already looks scabbed over in most parts. Wondering how he got it now!

@aplthtoa I'm assuming he's had chicken pox. If so then the virus just lays dormant in your system, like forever. It reactivated as Shingles if the body becomes rundown.

I'm sure DD's popped up after having a run of other bugs around this time of year.

He didn't catch shingles. The CP virus reactivated in his system and came out as shingles. Its just one of those things. Nhs says:

Try to avoid:

• anyone who is pregnant and has not had chickenpox before
• people with a weakened immune system – like someone having chemotherapy
• babies less than 1 month old

Important:Work and school

Stay off work or school if the rash is still oozing fluid (weeping) and cannot be covered, or until the rash has dried out.

You can only spread the infection to other people while the rash oozes fluid.

You can cover the rash with loose clothing or a non-sticky dressing.

Oh I see sorry, it's making me worry he's rundown now! Thank you, sorry DH was the one who spoke with the nurse so I didn't get chance to ask questions, thanks so much for explaining.

My DD had it around the same age and she just kept it covered too, school recommended she didn't do PE for the week so she didn't have to get changed.