First Shingles, Then Chickenpox

Last summer there was an outbreak of chicken pox at Nina's orphanage. Nina was one of the many kids that got it. When we asked about the history of her vaccinations, the doctor joked about how no kids had the chickenpox vaccine, instead they all had it the summer before.

Three weeks ago, Nina had shingles.

If you don't want to click on the link, here is a little expert from that site, "Shingles occurs when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body. After you get better from chickenpox, the virus "sleeps" (is dormant) in your nerve roots. In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus "wakes up" when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox."

You cannot get shingles from shingles. However, you can get chickenpox from shingles (If you have never had it before.)

Ellie has chickenpox. She is covered head to toe. I would post a picture except she is really embarrassed about it and does not want anyone to see her. Her first spots appeared on Saturday, we were not sure it actually was chickenpox. By Sunday we were sure it was shingles, and yesterday we watched her body just get covered. It really felt like we were watching a fast forward tape as we saw the spots appear.

And let me just say, it is no fun to have chickenpox when you are camping!

Today Nichole has a fever...guess she will join her sister with the spots.