A member asked:

As a baby i was vacinated for infectious diseases including shingles how ever i did have chicken pox. any chance i'm not immune for shingles?

4 doctors weighed in across 2 answers
Dr. Doanh Nguyen, md, faaaai answered

Specializes in Allergy and Immunology

Shingles: Yes, you could get shingles if you had chicken pox in the past. Shingles is due to reactivation of varicella zoster virus from the dorsal root ganglion of spinal nerves or from cranial nerve ganglia. It is the same virus that causes chickenpox which stays dormant or sleeps there after you get chickenpox infection. Risk of getting shingles increases with age, reduced immunity... But unknown mostly.

Answered 8/16/2013

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Confusing question: You state you were vaccinated for shingles as a baby, but the vaccine was not licensed for use in the us until 1995, making you 10 before it was available.A single dose at 10 would give 85% protection rate, so having chickenpox later would not be unusual.Either way you could develop shingles in your lifetime, but it is most common in the elderly or those with weakened immune systems..

Answered 9/28/2016

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