Chickenpox and Shingles Are the Same Virus at Two Different Times

Chickenpox does something unusual after the rash disappears.

The virus does not completely leave the body.

A virus that stays

Varicella-zoster virus causes chickenpox. After recovery, the virus becomes dormant in nerve tissue.

Years or decades later, it can reactivate as shingles—a painful blistering rash that usually follows the path of a nerve.

Two prevention stories

Routine varicella vaccination reduces the chance of a child developing wild-type chickenpox in the first place.

For older adults, shingles vaccination is a separate prevention strategy aimed at reducing reactivation and its complications, including postherpetic neuralgia.

Why this surprises people

People often think of chickenpox as a childhood illness and shingles as an unrelated older-adult problem.

They are two chapters of the same virus.

The preventive-care lesson

Vaccines can change disease at different points in life: one prevents the initial infection, another reduces the risk of later reactivation and complications.

That makes varicella-zoster one of the clearest examples of preventive care spanning an entire lifespan.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

CDC — Chickenpox. https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/

CDC — Shingles. https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/