Infant with Shingles?!?

[naturegirl7]

Has anyone ever heard of this?!

On my local AP parent yahoo group, a mom posted that her 17mo DD has been diagnosed with shingles!

Apparently the baby had the ch pox vax at 12months, and now has developed shingles. In response to my post/questions for her, she posted that they are sure "it is shingles and not chicken pox because of the rash only being on one side of the body and having lines"

It is my understanding of shingles that it is usually only affects on nerve - like you would have outbreaks on one arm or one leg - but not both extremeties cuz that would involved multiple nerves. It is also my understanding that this is an adult disease - I have NEVER EVER heard of a child coming down with shingles - is this another "benefit" of the ch pox vax???

I am debating setting up a playdate so that DS can get chicken pox..... I know he could get a case of pox from shingles, but I guess I am just really freaked out over the fact that a baby has shingles.....Could it be something else?

I am double posting this in vax forum too.

[wombatclay]

Heyla! There's some good info about shingles here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/s...s/shingles.htm

Basically anyone who has had chicken pox (either wild or vax) can develop shingles. The virus that causes the pox never leaves your system after you've been infected but usually the body keeps it in check. If the immune system doesn't then you have a shingles outbreak.

The real problem IMO with the cp vax is that now-and-then exposure to chicken pox helps the body keep it in check. The vax means there are fewer and fewer chances to "casually" encounter chicken pox and get that boost. Which means that even if you had wild chicken pox your risk of shingles is increased by the spread of the vax.

I will add that as a child my neighbor's dd had horrible shingles, starting at around 4years. She had wild chicken pox. So yeah, anyone at any age can develop shingles if they've had the pox, but thanks to the vax it's getting to be a more common condition.

[AbbieB]

When doing reading about vaccines and trying to decide if/when to do them I repeatedly came across statements about the wide spread use of the chicken pox vaccine leading to more cases of shingles and in younger populations.

In fact when I read the title of the post I thought "I bet that kid had the chicken pox vaccine."

I hope the little person has a mild case and it passes quickly.

[flapjack]

Poor mite.
I've seen a case of shingles in an 8mo: she was exposed to CP at literally days old, but only got a couple of spots. When her other brother came down with CP months later, she got shingles She was pretty poorly with it, too, IIRC.

This is probably not the time for a pox party, btw.

[Hayes]

My 17 mo old had shingles! She had HFM "diagnosed" at 4 mos old., She only had a fewspots, and Iw ouldn't have even bothered except we had seen a friend with a new baby, and I wanted to be sure baby was safe. I knew Celeste had CP and not HFM.

At age 17 mos, she developed a spot of "viral rash." Our regular ped said if it began to look worse, to call. The next morning, it looked terrible. Off we went to the dermatologists who were all AMAZED that my 17 mo old had shingles.

[carx2ie]

my 5mo has just been diagnosed with shingles. she was exposed to cp at one week old when my older dds had cp. Esme had 3 bumps and no other symptoms. Last week we though she had scratched herself and got impetigo, but doc took one look at it and said shingles. I can't find anything on shingles in babies on the net, as it's so rare. especially as she's fully bf, and otherwise totally healthy. it's very upsetting for me, moreso because she has it on her eyelid and there is a danger of permanent eye damage.
carrie x

[flapjack]

Carx2ie. I hope she gets better soon, and that there isn't any lasting repercussions. Better still, I hope the doctor is wrong...

[Meilin]

Dont know why y'all are assuming it has to do with the vaccine.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-a...ases-your-risk

It's most common when the mother has chicken pox during pregnancy

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by Meilin

Dont know why y'all are assuming it has to do with the vaccine.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-a...ases-your-risk

It's most common when the mother has chicken pox during pregnancy

Probably because shingles (herpes zoster) is one of the potential side effects listed on the package insert of the Varivax (chicken pox) vaccine.

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_...varivax_pi.pdf

The following additional adverse reactions have been reported since the vaccine has been marketed:
Body as a Whole
Anaphylaxis (including anaphylactic shock) and related phenomena such as angioneurotic edema,
facial edema, and peripheral edema.
Hemic and Lymphatic System
Thrombocytopenia (including ITP).
Nervous/Psychiatric
Encephalitis; cerebrovascular accident; transverse myelitis; Guillain-Barré syndrome; Bell's palsy;
ataxia; non-febrile seizures; aseptic meningitis; dizziness; paresthesia.
Respiratory
Pharyngitis, Pneumonia/Pneumonitis.
Skin
Stevens-Johnson syndrome; erythema multiforme; Henoch-Schönlein purpura; secondary bacterial
infections of skin and soft tissue, including impetigo and cellulitis; herpes zoster.

[pers]

Originally Posted by jeanine123

Probably because shingles (herpes zoster) is one of the potential side effects listed on the package insert of the Varivax (chicken pox) vaccine.

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_...varivax_pi.pdf

It is. Chicken pox vaccine uses a live virus, so like chicken pox infection it can cause shingles later.

I think the point was, why assume it is the vaccine when it can happen with either the virus or the vaccine?

Shingles in kids is not common, but not unheard of, and it has always happened to some unlucky kids from time to time. I think awareness of those cases is greater now thanks to the Internet. Before, a kid would get shingles and only the people in their life and a few people the story was passed to second hand would know about it. Now someone posts it on the Internet someplace like here and thousands hear of the case.

I think the jury is still out on whether the risk of shingles for those who get the vaccine is the same as for those who get the natural disease or not. I've read a few places that those with the vaccine are less likely to develop shingles than those of us who have the disease, but there is not enough data yet. On the other hand, the existence of the vaccine seems to be making those of us who had the disease more likely to develop shingles since repeated exposure to the disease helps remind our immune system how to fight it so it can better keep the virus hiding within us down, and we aren't getting that exposure since the chicken pox vaccine is keeping kids from getting the disease and exposing us.

[AFWife]

nak

i remember a girl at my elementary school with big keloid scars on her arms and legs...from shingles as an infant no lasting issues except the scars

[Mama2Bug]

I had a really "bad" case of wild CP when I was 4 or 5 and when I was in 8th or 9th grade I got a very unpleasant case of Shingles. I don't remember my pediatrician being especially surprised and this was in the early 90s. I don't think it's terribly uncommon. It hurt and itched, but I recovered just fine and have never had it again.

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by pers

I think the point was, why assume it is the vaccine when it can happen with either the virus or the vaccine?

Why assume it isn't? The person I was responding to pretty much told us it couldn't possibly be the vaccine. Which isn't true, and that's what led me to point out that her assumption isn't completely accurate.

[sarahmck]

My 14-month old has shingles. He had CP when he was 7 weeks old. Just two pocks. Now he's got shingles. It's a mild case, but still a real pain. It leaves me wondering why he got it now, does he have an immune deficiency, etc.

[octobermom]

A co worker of my DH wife came down with chicken pox during her pregancy the baby was fine but then came down with shingles a few months after birth probably because shs got the disease in urtero then the shingles as an infant. I got Chicken pox at around 6 months and I've gotten some form of shingles almost every other year since.. (though not since I had DD 6 years ago)

Deanna

[sarahmck]

Oh God, shingles every other year for your whole life? I can't believe that I let this happen to my baby.

[octobermom]

Originally Posted by sarahmck

Oh God, shingles every other year for your whole life? I can't believe that I let this happen to my baby.

I also have a week heart do to a birth defect that put my immune system at risk and leavees me more prone to infection such as shingles than others. My out breaks over time became very mild annoying but not life threatening.

Deanna

[IlluminatedAttic]

My nephew had shingles just before he turned 3. My sister's pediatrician told her it couldn't possibly be from the vaccine but he had had no other exposure. I sent her info which she took to the doctor and after reading and checking the vax label/insert sheet he admitted that yes, it was in fact the most likely cause.

On a side note, when I was researching this I came across info that the spread of the vaccine in children has lead to the need to develop the shingles vaccine for adults. Used to be that adults got natural exposure over their lifetime from being around kids with wild pox and this gave their antibodies a boost. Now that that exposure is so minimized there has been an increase of cases of shingles in adults.

[babymommy2]

Which means that even if you had wild chicken pox your risk of shingles is increased by the spread of the vax.

This doesn't really make sense. when you get chicken pox, wild or vaccine, it is a latent virus therefore stays in your body forever along your nerve pathway, when you are imunocompromised it can activate itself again as shingles. Having a "boost" from wild disease wouldn't prevent you from having shingles. It has more to do with being immunocompromised.

Interesting fact from the book Control of Communicable Diseases manual (2000)intrauterine infection and varicella before 2 years of age are also associated with zoster (shingles) at an early age. This is talking aobut wild disease, not vaccine.

As far as I know, unless new information has come out shingles occurs with vaccine, but is less common than wild varicella.

[paxye]

My DH had Shingles as a baby....

He has scars on his face from them..