Is Shingles contagious?
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You cannot get Shingles from another person; you can only get it if you had a chicken pox infection in your life. But you can pass on the infection to a person who has not had chicken pox before. So if there are people in your family who have not had chicken pox before, then they should stay away from a shingles patient.
No one knows for sure what triggers the virus to start multiplying and getting active again in the body. Some doctors think that the shingles virus gets reactivated when a person comes in contact with other chicken pox or shingles patients. The shingles attack usually happens when our immune systems become weak. There can be many factors that contribute to a weakened immune system such as aging, stress, an attack of sinusitis, HIV infection, leukemia, lymphoma or Hodgkin's disease, patients undergoing radiation, or chemotherapy or those who have just undergone transplant surgery. During a transplant a patient is given drugs to suppress the immune system and such a person might be susceptible to an attack of shingles.
The most number of cases though are seen in the elderly. A study estimates that 50 percent of patients with shingles are in the age group of over 60. The elderly are at a greater risk as aging weakens their immune system and health. According to one estimate about 1 million people in the US suffer from shingles every year. |
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