Kidlet has shingles. Huh?

[kambuckta]

@DSeid

It is therefore a bit uncommon (but not unheard of) for a healthy child previously immunized to chickenpox to have the weakened virus from the vaccine reactivate and manifest as shingles. Was this a diagnosis by exam only or did they test it? And not to be biased but was this a pediatrician who saw it? There are other things that look very similar to shingles that would be less unusual for this presentation in this age group. Not that it matters as long as it is going away!

Diagnosis by exam, but I think if there were any doubt the doc would have ordered path tests. Apparently both chicken pox and shingles are ‘notifiable’ diseases in the state where we live (to the Health Department), and consequently the kidlet is excluded from school for at least 5 days so that no other (probably non-immunized) kid contracts CP from contact with the shingles exudate.

Also, we don’t routinely ‘do’ paediatricians here in Australia, unless our kid has a disability or some other chronic illness. We trot along to our GP and if he/she thinks the case is serious or needs further investigation, THEN we’re referred to a specialist, but mostly not a generic paed.

[DSeid]

Accepting the GP’s diagnosis as accurate then the answer to your op is simply that something that occurs rarely (shingles from reactivation of the weakened virus of the vaccine in an otherwise completely healthy and non-stressed child) still does rarely occur and is 100% if you are that one. The contracting it was by way of the vaccine.

If anything happens to you or your daughter as a result of exposure to kidlet’s shingles it would be what gets labelled as an “environmental booster” effect … your antibody levels might possibly go up a little reducing slightly your risk of future reactivation of your wild type varicella zoster that is dormant in you, aka shingles.

BTW, the current CDC guidance on immunization of adults to prevent shingles is based on a new one being available:

… Routine Vaccination of People 50 Years Old and Older
CDC recommends Shingrix® (recombinant zoster vaccine) as preferred over Zostavax® (zoster vaccine live) for the prevention of herpes zoster (shingles) and related complications. CDC recommends two doses of Shingrix separated by 2 to 6 months for immunocompetent adults age 50 years and older: …

Besides cost it does have common moderate reactions and about 17% of those vaccinated have reactions severe enough to prevent regular activities for a day or so.

[justanothermike]

I had them in middle school. My parents were jerks, I was bullied at school (those two often go hand in hand), and things were probably starting to change hormonally to so extent. I assumed it was triggered by stress. It certainly added to it, now being the freak with the weird bubbly patch on the side of his face.

[mcgato]

I had shingles when I was about 8 or so, back in the late 1960s. Not sure if I had a chicken pox vaccine, but the doctor said that shingles at my age were usually the result of a mild case of chicken pox earlier in life. That would be consistent with what DSeid said above. I still have the scars on my back from the boils/lesions or whatever they were. Not fun times, as I recall.

Edit to add: My company released a shingles vaccine last October that has shown 90% effectiveness.