Slow onset Herpes Zoster

[libanus93]

My wife and I are trying to figure out and solve this issue.

Our nine year-old daughter (who has been vaccinated for chicken pox) developed shingles a few weeks ago on the T1 nerve of her spine.  We thought that when you break out with zoster, they develop, it crusts over, and you recover.  Right now, some of the scabs are crusting over while new ones are still appearing.  She is on Valtrex now.

To make matters worse, both my wife and I already had chicken pox (I had it two years ago at age 36) and we thought that we would be immune.  Nope.  Our daughter was lying in our bed and now both my wife and I have developed mild cases of chicken pox apparently from our daughter's shingles.  We feel pinpricks all over our bodies, even when there is no bump.  Plus, it is the same slow onset type--some lesions have crusted over while we are still getting new ones.  Plus, my wife is having some blurriness of vision (optic neuritis?)

This is really weird and complex.  Is this what we should be expecting or is this unusual?  Any feedback?

[vegasgirl69]

I know this is a very old thread, but I just wanted to say that I was exposed to the chicken pox as an infant, and when I was exposed again in Kindergarten, I got shingles. So while it may be rare for a young child to get shingles, it does happen.

[medstudent2011]

I'm 47, smoker. I got a bunch of vaccines for nursing school about two weeks ago, including the chicken pox vacc. Well here we are two weeks later and I have chicken pox. I feel flu like symptoms, yesterday was the worst, joint aches. I have probably less than 50-70 pox marks, very few are crusted over, they mainly look like bug bites, some to itch. Then again this is only day 3.  I got put on Acyclovir today 800mg 4 times daily. I do have new bumps showing up every couple of hours I find a new one here and there.  Other than that, I don't really feel like any other maladies. I'm in RN school right now and had to get the vaccs for my clinicals. Now I'm missing school.  Everyone says it's horrible as an adult. I guess, either mine isn't that bad because it comes from the vaccine which is milder.  It still sucks none the less.  I really don't trust new vaccines. Older ones are trusted because researcher really wanted to control diseases and infectious agents. Now, Drug companies  just want MONEY. The FDA are in  their pockets. So they're not to be trusted either. Doctors told me that this is very uncommon.(doesn't happen too often) They won't every publish the stats on how many people got the chicken pox after they got the vacc. Insurance usually doesn't cover it. ( I have great insurance) and in most cases it cost around 120-140 dollars and you need two doses 30-60 days apart. The vaccination center that gave me the shot wouldn't even give me the brand of the vacc so I  could report it to VAERS. They told me that I had to request my  Med  records and request the info specifically. Whatever. But so far, it hasn't been that bad. I'll keep everyone posted. hope this helps someone

[gracefromHHP]

I'd follow up on this with a dermatologist and all of you get culturing done.  Your daughter getting shingles at her age is odd enough. All 3 of you having a shingles ob at the same time really defies the odds.  This is well worth better follow up on to get better answers.

grace

[libanus93]

No, there were no cultures taken for any of us.

Thank you,

Libanus93

[gracefromHHP]

Did your daughter have a culture that confirmed shingles? What about you and your wife?

grace