Shingles

[Eastender]

Hi I work in a care home, and have just found out that our manager has been of with shingles. Firstly I would like to know if shingles is catching? and I would also like some feed back, as to whether all staff should have been informed of the outbreak, as it was kept very hush hush and only a few members of staff were aware of it. Thanks

[boxtops]

I've done a first aid course but it didn't cover shingles. I do know who the WHO are (I had a friend worked there) but I was waiting for all the Roger Daltrey jokes first..;-)

[karenmac60]

Mike, whatever you were told as a child is not what Alex has been saying. She never at any point said that if you'd had chickenpox you couldn't get shingles - in fact you can ONLY get shingles if you have had chickenpox. You cannot catch it (shingles), you develop it from the dormant chickenpox virus in your system. You can't catch chickenpox twice.

[ladyalex]

Thanks, karenmac.

I was starting to lose the will to live here.

[mike11111]

i take your point ladyalex. At first reading your OP suggested that chicken pox gave immunity from shingles. I now see what you mean and am glad that we agree that chicken pox in childhood does not guarantee immunity against shingles.

[karenmac60]

Oh, and when my ex had shingles, the only advice he was given regarding passing chickenpox on was that he should avoid pregnant women and young babies.

[Buenchico]

The previous answers include some totally accurate statements and some complete rubbish. This is what the NHS website states:
" It is not possible to catch shingles from someone else with the condition. The shingles virus is reactivated from a previous infection with the varicella-zoster virus (the virus that causes chickenpox) and is not transmitted by person-to-person contact.

However, it is possible for someone who has never had chickenpox to catch chickenpox from someone with shingles. In the UK, chickenpox is so common during childhood that 9 out of 10 adults have had it, so will not be affected".

Click through the links ('Symptoms', 'Causes', etc) to get a thorough understanding of the condition.

I've had shingles myself, and I've known many other people who've had it. If I was an employer I would instantly dismiss any employee who failed to come into work because of the illness. (It's perfectly possible to work through the pain, as I did, and the risks to others are negligible).

Chris

[ladyalex]

Phew!
Thank goodness for that.
All's well that ends well.

PS I had chickenpox as a child and shingles as an adult...I've rarely felt so unwell as when I had shingles.
A close relative of mine had chickenpox at age 60 and he was ill and in bed for months..it's absolutely awful if you have it as an adult.

[Printemps]

I believe that in order to catch shingles, you would have definitely have to have had chickenpox previously (whether you remember having it or not). And vice versa. The herpes simplex virus is responsible and it remains in the body for ever and can be reactivated by contact with someone who has`the active virus. If I am wrong please point to the medical evidence.

[Buenchico]

My post might have made more sense if I'd remembered to include the link!
http://www.nhs.uk/Con...ges/Introduction.aspx

[anneasquith]

i have seen men weep in agony with shingles ,especially trigeminal shingles, who have been admitted to haspital and given pethidine for pain relief.

[mike11111]

All I can say Buenchico is that you must have had a very mild form of the disease. It is not the pain, but the way the virus saps your whole body that makes it almost impossible to work. I had to take two weeks off work and I had a reputation for never being off sick, no matter what. it's 25 years ago now, but I never want to go through it again.

[ladyalex]

We are finally as one, Mike 11111
Buenchico, you were very lucky.

[mrs.chappie]

My brother recently had ophthalmic shingles and it was the most horrible time for him. Truly horrendous. Poor thing.

[Buenchico]

Very lucky?
No sleep for a week. Constant pain. Throwing up almost hourly. But I'd got a contract to work 12 hour shifts for most days of that week. (If I didn't turn up a dozen other people would lose their temporary work contracts). I honoured that contract, as I'd expect anyone else to do.

[pastafreak]

A co-worker of mine had facial shingles earlier this year. She took a week or so off-partly due to the pain,and also due to how exhausted the condition left her. Dismissal seems overly harsh.....no matter what the condition-even the 'common' cold-we all react differently,and tolerate pain,fever or discomfort with varying degrees of success.

[karenmac60]

I suppose it depends on your line of work Chris. I had a colleague recently come into work throughout a bout of shingles and if it had been up to me I'd have sent her home as part of her job involves working with young babies and often mums to be. In my opinion she was needlessly putting others at risk.

[bednobs]

perhaps she just avoided eye contact karen ;-)

[karenmac60]

Maybe, Bednobs ;)