“Can my child give me chickenpox?”
I am up to date with shingles vaccines, but my daughter recently caught chickenpox. I've taken her to the doctor and we were given acyclovir for treatment. Since I've never had chickenpox, could I catch it from her? What's the risk?
11 Answers
If you got the vaccine & acyclovir you need not worry
Yes, you could contract chicken pox from your child. The shingles vaccine is indicated in adults older than age 50. Most people that age had chicken pox as children, however, they could have an outbreak of shingles as a result. The risk is low, but definitely possible.
Since chicken pox and shingles are caused by the same virus, you should be protected from chicken pox by the shingles vaccine. Of course, no vaccine is 100 % effective. But if you do contract chicken pox, it will be a very mild case.
So sorry to hear that your daughter has come down with chickenpox and needs
treatment with anti-viral medication (acyclovir)! This must mean that her
case is at least moderate in severity and with some risk for transmission
to unvaccinated individuals. If you are neither vaccinated nor had the
natural chickenpox, you are at risk of getting the infection from her.
While you will be about 50% protected from the virus causing chickenpox
(varicella-zoster) due to your shingles vaccine, only the chickenpox
vaccine will protect you 80-90% of the time. Additionally, we know that
infection after vaccination is typically much less severe if you have
received the vaccination in advance.
If you have more questions regarding vaccination, your local health
department, physician's office, or cdc.gov section on vaccine-preventable
illnesses can be of help!
Best regards for health and healing...
Dr. E
treatment with anti-viral medication (acyclovir)! This must mean that her
case is at least moderate in severity and with some risk for transmission
to unvaccinated individuals. If you are neither vaccinated nor had the
natural chickenpox, you are at risk of getting the infection from her.
While you will be about 50% protected from the virus causing chickenpox
(varicella-zoster) due to your shingles vaccine, only the chickenpox
vaccine will protect you 80-90% of the time. Additionally, we know that
infection after vaccination is typically much less severe if you have
received the vaccination in advance.
If you have more questions regarding vaccination, your local health
department, physician's office, or cdc.gov section on vaccine-preventable
illnesses can be of help!
Best regards for health and healing...
Dr. E
Shingles vaccines are usually only given to people 50 or older, so are you sure that you have had it? If you have had the chickenpox vaccine (Varivax) in 2 separate doses atleast 2 months apart, you should be immune. The efficacy of the 2-dose series is about 98%, so unless you are in the unlucky 2%, you should be okay. If you have not been vaccinated, you have a very high likelihood of getting chickenpox.
The shingles vaccine is a high strength varicella vaccine and it should protect you from chicken pox. The other question is how old is your daughter, and did she get the chicken pox vaccine?
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If you are not immune yes you can catch chrckenpox from your child.
Most people had sub clinical chickenpox with few bumps that were not diagnosed and are immune. You can ask your doctor to check your levels to see if you are immune. Incubation period is 10-21 days
If you are susceptible and catch it acyclovir for you early on will be an option to alleviate and shorten the course
Most people had sub clinical chickenpox with few bumps that were not diagnosed and are immune. You can ask your doctor to check your levels to see if you are immune. Incubation period is 10-21 days
If you are susceptible and catch it acyclovir for you early on will be an option to alleviate and shorten the course
Hi how are you? Have you been vaccinated with the Varicella Vaccine? The varicella vaccine protects you and provides a lower risk of transmission. Shingles vaccine is to prevent re-activation of an old infection of varicella. So, my answer is, yes, you can catch it from her.
Sincerely,
Ayfarah M. Frangieh M.D, FAAP
Sincerely,
Ayfarah M. Frangieh M.D, FAAP
If you have received your Varicella vaccine when you were younger (a series of 2) and you mentioned you got the Shingles vaccine, you should be okay and probably won't be affected by the exposure. Remember that no vaccine is 100% protective, there is always a small possibility you may get the disease, even if vaccinated and even if you had chicken pox in your youth. The fact you are vaccinated puts you at a very low risk for acquiring the disease and if you do, it would be a very small outbreak. I think you can feel pretty safe about this.
Hello! This is a fantastic question. And sorry it took me so long to get back with you!
In short, if you have never had the vaccine (it was licensed in 3-1995), and, even if you did, precautions to prevent transmission are a good idea. While our vaccines are awesome in preventing disease, not everyone who receives the vaccines develops titers of antibody sufficient for immunity. Additionally, even if you were to receive the vaccine today to boost yourself, it would take a couple weeks for your body to react appropriately and make antibodies, so you could still get sick in that time frame.
The only way to be certain that you have immunity is to draw antibody titers from blood to the Varicella Zoster Virus, and I wouldn’t recommend this necessarily for you, because I would recommend precautions anyway. At minimum, I would recommend contact precautions. This means that you should wash your hands before and after interactions with your child as well as avoid touching lesions that are not crusted over without gloves as the virus is within secretions from these lesions.
Additionally, if you have contracted the virus, you may take upto 2 weeks to show symptoms. Your daughter is likely to remain contagious until all her rash lesions are scabbed over. She was also contagious for a couple days before the rash too, so it is entirely possible that you came into contact before she even became symptomatic. The virus can also be spread via airborne particles too, which would be more likely if your child had a strong cough at the time. Some children are able to aerosolize the virus. This is harder to prevent, but if you are especially worried about transmission, you could get a mask and I would recommend an N95 mask if possible (but any mask would be better than nothing).
The CDC has a great website about the Varicella Zoster Virus which causes chicken pox if you would like to learn more. The link to their website is here: https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/about/transmission.html
I hope this is helpful. Fortunately, once someone gets the chickenpox, it is unlikely that they will have a recurrence of the primary disease, but there is always a risk of recurrence with shingles later in life.
In short, if you have never had the vaccine (it was licensed in 3-1995), and, even if you did, precautions to prevent transmission are a good idea. While our vaccines are awesome in preventing disease, not everyone who receives the vaccines develops titers of antibody sufficient for immunity. Additionally, even if you were to receive the vaccine today to boost yourself, it would take a couple weeks for your body to react appropriately and make antibodies, so you could still get sick in that time frame.
The only way to be certain that you have immunity is to draw antibody titers from blood to the Varicella Zoster Virus, and I wouldn’t recommend this necessarily for you, because I would recommend precautions anyway. At minimum, I would recommend contact precautions. This means that you should wash your hands before and after interactions with your child as well as avoid touching lesions that are not crusted over without gloves as the virus is within secretions from these lesions.
Additionally, if you have contracted the virus, you may take upto 2 weeks to show symptoms. Your daughter is likely to remain contagious until all her rash lesions are scabbed over. She was also contagious for a couple days before the rash too, so it is entirely possible that you came into contact before she even became symptomatic. The virus can also be spread via airborne particles too, which would be more likely if your child had a strong cough at the time. Some children are able to aerosolize the virus. This is harder to prevent, but if you are especially worried about transmission, you could get a mask and I would recommend an N95 mask if possible (but any mask would be better than nothing).
The CDC has a great website about the Varicella Zoster Virus which causes chicken pox if you would like to learn more. The link to their website is here: https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/about/transmission.html
I hope this is helpful. Fortunately, once someone gets the chickenpox, it is unlikely that they will have a recurrence of the primary disease, but there is always a risk of recurrence with shingles later in life.
Hi! Yes, unfortunately you could catch the chickenpox virus from your daughter if you have truly never had chickenpox before (although sometimes adults have had it without knowing it when they were very young and don't remember). The virus is most contagious from 2 days before the rash appears until the rash is completely dry and scanned over, and unfortunately the shingles vaccine you received won't provide you guaranteed immunity.
The incubation period for the virus is 10-21 days, so if you do get it you'll start experiencing symptoms anywhere from 1.5 - 3 weeks after you were exposed to the virus. The virus is relatively contagious, but there is still a chance you won't get it. It's spread by contact with blisters and saliva and through airborne droplets made by coughing and sneezing, so frequent hand washing, coughing into elbows, and throwing away tissues right away are all recommended to prevent catching it.
Hope this helps!
Christina Durchholz, MD
The incubation period for the virus is 10-21 days, so if you do get it you'll start experiencing symptoms anywhere from 1.5 - 3 weeks after you were exposed to the virus. The virus is relatively contagious, but there is still a chance you won't get it. It's spread by contact with blisters and saliva and through airborne droplets made by coughing and sneezing, so frequent hand washing, coughing into elbows, and throwing away tissues right away are all recommended to prevent catching it.
Hope this helps!
Christina Durchholz, MD
