DD(11) has shingles! Anyone else seeing it in kids in your area?

[AristocatFan]

I did not know kids could get shingles. I knew about it being from the chicken pox virus, but I always thought it was something that showed up in adults. She had a sore throat Mon and Tues. But no fever. On Wed afternoon she asked me to look behind her ear since she felt some bumps. She had some red bumps that made me think chicken pox. (she had a very mild case of pox when she was 3mos old so we knew she could have them again someday) But they didn't itch or bother her so I told her to just leave them alone. By Thurs morning the bumps had turned more into clusters and spread done her shoulder. I had the school nurse look at her and she said shingles. So off to the doc we went and sure enough that's what it is. Fortunately they haven't started hurting her and have just today started to be a little itchy. I found Calamine Lotion in a spray and that has helped a lot! She was allowed to continue going to school and is otherwise acting normal. We were all just surprised by the diagnosis.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Weird! I had a student who had shingles when she was 13. The doctor told her parents it was because she had been vaccinated for chicken pocks, so when she was exposed to the pocks, she got Shingles instead.

I hope your DD feels better soon.

 

[mefordis]

Poor girl! I hope they go away soon!

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

She was allowed to continue going to school and is otherwise acting normal.

Wow. She is contagious to those that have not had CP nor the CP vaccine.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/shingles/shingles-topic-overview

Avoid contact with people until the rash heals. While you have shingles, you can spread chickenpox to people who have never had chickenpox and who haven't gotten the chickenpox vaccine. Be extra careful to avoid people with weak immune systems and pregnant women and babies who have never had chickenpox and have never gotten the vaccine.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm
CDC says it is spread through direct contact.

What can be done to prevent the spread of shingles?

The risk of spreading shingles is low if the rash is covered. People with shingles should keep the rash covered, not touch or scratch the rash, and wash their hands often to prevent the spread of VZV. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer contagious.

Hope she feels better soon!

 

[AristocatFan]

Wow. She is contagious to those that have not had CP nor the CP vaccine.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/shingles/shingles-topic-overview


http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm
CDC says it is spread through direct contact.


Hope she feels better soon!

The students are all required to have the vaccine or have already had the pox.

 

[punkin]

The students are all required to have the vaccine or have already had the pox.

Yes, but they could still get shingles, no?

 

[Nette]

Yes, but they could still get shingles, no?

I don't think so... I *THINK* I read somewhere that shingles is caused by a "reactivation" of the chicken pox virus that is still living in the person. Apparently the virus never really gets killed off or it can hide in certain tissues or something...

I wish I had known before very recently that kids who are vaccinated against chicken pox are a lot more likely to get shingles. It would have been the straw that broke the camels back on that particular vaccine being injected into my daughter...

 

[phorsenuf]

My son had shingles a coupe years ago. He was 16 I think. He could still go to school because the only way he could spread them was direct contact. It was on his back so the chances of that was pretty slim.
Thankfully they didn't bother him much and since we go to the Dr quickly they gave him an anti-viral to take. He healed up pretty quick.

*********

What causes shingles?

Shingles occurs when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body. After you get better from chickenpox, the virus "sleeps" (is dormant) in your nerve roots. In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus "wakes up" when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox.

You can't catch shingles from someone else who has shingles. But a person with a shingles rash can spread chickenpox to another person who hasn't had chickenpox and who hasn't gotten the chickenpox vaccine.

 

[punkin]

I don't think so... I *THINK* I read somewhere that shingles is caused by a "reactivation" of the chicken pox virus that is still living in the person. Apparently the virus never really gets killed off or it can hide in certain tissues or something...

I wish I had known before very recently that kids who are vaccinated against chicken pox are a lot more likely to get shingles. It would have been the straw that broke the camels back on that particular vaccine being injected into my daughter...

I don't know either, just made sense to me.

I had no choice about vaccination. The state requires it (or maybe it's the county) for DDs to attend school.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Shingles is NOT contagious. Yes, people who have not had chicken pox (or the vaccine) can get the chicken pox virus, but the transmission of shingles is not a possibility. Shingles occurs when a person has a lowered immune system and the dormant chicken pox virus 'reactivates' to cause shingles. Hence why it is most common in seniors and people with severe illnesses.

My mother is an rn who works as a skin and wound care specialist in a nursing home, so shingles is a common concern for her, but not it's transmission from one person to another. Just can not happen.

 

[MelanieC]

Yep - The actual shingles virus is not contagious (but you can get Chicken pox). It lays dormant in the nerve roots and then travels down your nerves from your spine around to the front side of your stomach. It's usually brought about by stress, low immune system that type of thing. Poor thing - it doesn't usually present itself in children, although all of us that have had chicken pox or the vaccine have it dormant in our bodies.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

I wish I had known before very recently that kids who are vaccinated against chicken pox are a lot more likely to get shingles. It would have been the straw that broke the camels back on that particular vaccine being injected into my daughter...

Not true from what I have read.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_92648.html
and

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091204092443.htm

Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, is very rare among children who have been vaccinated against chicken pox, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the December issue of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.

The study, the largest of its kind, used electronic health records to identify more than 170,000 children vaccinated with the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine from 2002 to 2008 in Kaiser Permanente's Southern California region, then followed children for an average of two and a half years to identify the occurrence of herpes zoster.

Researchers found only 122 cases of herpes zoster among the 172,163 vaccinated children, for an estimated incidence of 1 case per 3,700 vaccinated children per year. This is a lower rate compared to what one would expect in the unvaccinated children based on previous experiences.

"The message to parents and pediatricians is: vaccinating your child against the chicken pox is also a good way to reduce their chances of getting herpes zoster," said the study's lead author, HungFu Tseng, Ph.D, MPH.

 

[donac]

I had the shingles last year. The person who diagnosed it was a friend of mine whose daughter had it. When I described my symptoms she told me it was shingles.

My doctor made me stay out of school for almost 2 weeks.

 

[JessicaR]

Until recently I never heard of children getting Shingles. I know the possibility existed but are the cases increasing?
Just doing a simple search revealed incidences of this and teachers reporting it as well.

Getting the chickenpox vaccine significantly lowers kids' chances of getting chickenpox, but they might still develop shingles later in life.

Children who get vaccinated against chickenpox may have a lower risk of developing shingles, a painful rash caused by the chickenpox virus.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B30ML20091204

New research published in the International Journal of Toxicology (IJT) by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., reveals high rates of shingles (herpes zoster) in Americans since the government's 1995 recommendation that all children receive chicken pox vaccine.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2005/09/01/12896.aspx

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/detail_shingles.htm

 

[AristocatFan]

The thing that irked me was the doc said there was no medication for it, that it had to just run it's course. (didn't see my regular doc) I know that's not true because my mom had meds for shingles. If by chance she does get worse I will be calling our reg doc.

I was also told they're seeing more outbreaks at the same time as strep throat, though in older people. The oddest thing about DD is that they are on her neck.

 

[imabrat]

Yep, I had the shingles at 11 too! I also had the Chicken Pox at age 3. I have a scar on my inner right arm from the shingles, actually. They went away fairly quickly but they were quite painful.

Then again, I'm known for having strange medical conditions. I have very low blood pressure (usually 80/50 or 90/60) and people that don't know my background (I'm barely 2 years off a year of chemo) wonder how I'm still alive.

 

[acmeyer]

I would be real hesitant about thinking she isn't contagious (sp?). My dh had the shingles. Youngest dd (9) had the shot but had never gotten Chicken pox - within 7 days of dh breaking out in shingles dd had a mild case of the chicken pox. Our doctor said that she did get them from dh. We thought that she couldn't get them due to the shot the doc told us that they are finding that the shot isn't covering everyone 100%. THe bad thing was we had sent her to school the first day she had broke out (she had a very mild case (50 bumps total) that we thought she had bug bites