Husband diagnosed with shingles

[Ivf4203]

Hi all. I’m very concerned as my husband was just diagnosed with shingles. It’s day 6 since his first symptoms and he started oral antivirals today. I’m 13 weeks 3 days pregnant today. I never had chickenpox. I had 2 doses of the chickenpox vaccine which I got around 15 years ago I think already as an adult because it was a requirment before I could work in healthcare. I know this doesn’t offer full protection because I have friend who was vaccinated but still had chickenpox. I will call my midwife tomorrow first thing for advice but I wonder if anyone had been in the same situation before? My husband and I have been in close contact until today. He is now isolating. This is our first baby conceived via IVF and we are both so very anxious about this.

You can get tested for antibodies.
Shingles spreads chickenpox with direct contact from fluid in the blisters so he should keep the rash covered (depending where it is). Where is the rash on his body?

@dementedpixie it’s on the left side of his forehead close to his hairline/scalp. Tried covering it with large dressing but it falls off due to sweat on the area. I hope my midwife can schedule me a blood test tomorrow. I will be ringing first thing in the morning.

Hopefully he's trying not to touch it and you can stay away from that area. Hope you can get a blood test sorted too. Good luck

@dementedpixie thank you. I will update the thread when I get advice from the midwife.

Update: EPU checked my immunity level through a blood test which came back as positive so I have antibodies against chickenpox thanks to my past vaccines. I was told that if it’s below the levels that they want, I will need prophylaxis oral aciclovir which they said is safe for pregnancy (although not licensed). My gp was also helpful saying the exact same thing and offering me a blood test within 30mins of me calling them however she said the result will not be back until monday so the recommendation was to start aciclovir until results are back. I opted going to EPU for blood test even though it involves a bit of travel which was a good decision as I received the result this evening. At least I did not have to take meds I don’t really need. My husband will still of course be careful and not come near me until all blisters are fully healed but it’s reassuring to know I have immunity. Pretty impressed with NHS to be fair!