How can we reduce shingles risk for DF receiving immunotherapy and never had chickenpox

[notedbiscuits]

Ok my DM is 75 and been diagnosed with infected shingles on one side of her face. Been given antibiotics and antivirals

My main concern is DF. He’s 78 and receiving immunotherapy for bladder cancer. His last course was end of May. He has three sessions left. He has never had chicken pox and had received the shingles vaccine.

Both my parents use different bathrooms. I have advised them to use separate towels in downstairs toilet and kitchen.

Before anyone asks, I live on my own and had chicken pox aged 5/6. Plus on steroids for asthma

What else should me and my parents do

Separate bedrooms?
At 78 he probably had the older version of the shingles vaccine which isn't as good as the new one. Can the GP test his immunity and perhaps give him a top up dose? It's not a live vaccine so you can have it while immunocompromised.

Shingles is actually the chicken pox re-activating. You can’t have shingles if you’ve never had chicken pox (and you can’t catch shingles anyway)

However, you can catch chicken pox from someone with shingles and I expect your father is massively at risk from this. I think you need to ring the GP urgently (or 111 if they have already shut). Your DF probably needs a chicken pox vaccine ASAP

The chicken pox vaccine is live so won't be suitable.

@notedbiscuits practising good hygiene will probably be enough, but it's worth getting medical advice.

Your DF should have a 24/7 oncology advice line that he can call. I would call this and ask for some advice as to whether there is anything additional you/he needs to do.

I'd ask for medical advice but I do think as long as everything is kept hygienic and separate, it should be fine.

You can’t “catch” shingles. If your DF has had chicken pox in the past he is more likely to develop it while he is immunosuppressed. I would seek advice from his oncology team. He may already have had the shingles vaccine which offers some protection. They may suggest a booster but it becomes less effective the older you are.
The vaccine is offered to everyone between 70-79 and they are now rolling it out to anyone over 60.
If you have access to his medical records you can check. Or if you have permission to advocate for him with his GP a quick call could confirm his status.

OP has already said that he has never had chicken pox.

He has never had chicken pox
Can you be sure of that? He may not remember, may have had it mildly? It's rare for adults in the UK to not have had it, there is an immunity blood test which can show for certain.

If you have become ‘severely immunocompromised’ as per the Green Book criteria since having had the old Zostavax shingles vaccine, you are eligible for two doses of the new. No need to test immunity.

If he has shingles, he has had chicken pox at some point. It's a reactivation of the virus that has been lying dormant in the nervous system. The shingles vaccine just reminds your body to keep fighting it off from inside if its reactivated. I believe the new shingles vaccine is deactivated so suitable for the immunocompramised. The latent virus was reactivated due to him being immuno-compramised.

OP's dad doesn't have shingles, her mum does. The concern is how to protect her dad and prevent him catching it.

Anti virals

He can't 'catch' shingles. He could have a chance of catching chickenpox from shingles but that is normally transmitted through contact with fluid from the shingles blisters. She should keep the blisters covered.

That's what I meant!

I’ve never had chicken pox either, and a blood test proved it. All my kids had it when they were young but I never caught it.
Blood test results proved I’d never had CP

If he's having immunotherapy he won't be immunocompromised. Its different to chemotherapy. There's not so much risk from infection risk. It has its own side effects but immunocompromisation isn't one of them.

I had to get the CP jab when my mum came down with shingles. I was 36 and never had it in my life. It's funny cos I don't have kids nor are there any in my family so I thought I was absolutely safe from ever getting chicken pox. I forgot completely about shingles. Although there is probably much less risk of developing CP from someone with shingles, and thankfully it didn't happen (but I got jabbed just to be sure) it's surely not that unheard of not to have had chicken pox!

OP why would your dad have had the shingles jab if he'd never had chicken pox? There would be no need surely. Did he not realise you only get shingles if you've already had chicken pox?

You can't catch shingles, but it is possible to contract chicken pox from someone with shingles if you're not immune.
My sister got CP for the second time recently. We both had it as children, I remember it well. Despite not catching it from her own kids and her charges as a nanny over the years she somehow managed to get it bad enough at 47 to need a hospital visit.

if he hasn’t had chicken pox he can’t get shingles.
He should keep away as he could catch CP but he’d have to touch the shingle spots.

And this is why you don't take medical advice from random people online.....

The shingles jab is given by virtue of age or clinical risk. We don’t check whether someone has had CP or not before we vaccinate. It doesn’t matter. And lots of people have had such a mild dose of CP they would never know.

@DemonsandMosquitoes ah ok, I just assumed everyone knew whether they'd had it or not. Especially if they're sure they haven't. Didn't realise it could be that mild.