friend with shingles / i never had chickenpox

Hi, I'm a 42 year old male. i have had a female friend, 38,  for 5-6 years. the other day we were talking and i had mentioned that i never had chickenpox. she got a panicked look on her face and told me we need to look into this to see if there are health risks involved for me. i've known about her shingles since shortly after we meet but had no idea that it could really affect me. Am i at risk of anything or are we jumping to conclusions.

thank you for reading my post and taking the time to comment.

9runn1 (Jon)

[superbombmom]

Hi, if she has oozing blisters and the juice gets in your eyes, mouth or nose you could get it, it's basically herpes.  It could be real bad then, you can get chicken pox in your lungs as a grown up and it could be fatal.  Just ask her to make sure and cancel hot date night when she's oozing and you,re all good! Nothing personal, just her being a good friend.  Good luck.

[ClairB73]

Hi,
Just taken my daughter to the docs this week with shingles and I was asking about how contagious it is etc. She said you usually have to come into to contact with the spots but could not guarantee that it could not be spread any other way. My son had shingles a couple of years ago and passed it to his younger sister but they did have a bath together before I knew what the rash was and she developed chicken pox within a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see if my 18 month old gets chicken pox now my 11 year old has shingles. Katie's rash is on her back and is covered with clothing so I guess if Harriet gets chicken pox it is contagious in other ways....
Katie's school would not let her go in until they checked that she was not going to come into contact with any pregnant teachers, so either they were being over cautious or there is a concern?
I guess while there are oozing spots don't see your friend just in case.
Don't know if that helps, I hope it does!
King regards
Clair

[lumen881]

I had shingles when my son was 3 months old and the pediatrician said it is contact transmission. She wrapped my rash up and we never had a problem.

You really might want to consider a Chickenpox vaccine. I don't know if you are in the US or Canada if you are in Canada it's free.