Chickenpox and shingles

[ShadeofViolet]

DS2 has woken up this morning with Chickenpox, so I am expecting DD to come out with it soon

However what I am more worried about is DS1. He has had Chickenpox but he also had Shingles a couple of years ago. Could he catch the virus again and it restart his Shingles? It was really horrid last time.

No - shingles is caused by the chicken pox virus which is left in your body after chicken pox. You never get rid of it, and it can cause shingles at any time, but most often when you're stressed or rundown from other things anyway.

Coming into contact with the chicken pox virus again will not give him shingles.

In fact, there is a theory that you are less likely to get an outbreak of shingles if you come into contact with people with chicken pox from time to time, though I'm not quite sure why. I believe that when in the US they started chicken pox vaccinations so fewer children got it, the rate of shingles in adults went up, and they thought it was because the adults who already had the virus in their system weren't bumping into active chicken pox cases so much any more.

Thank you very much - I cant stop worrying now