No sick pay and shingles

humadoon

Del this please

princessdon

Shingles are contagious and not based on immune system?

heretolearn_2

Well, your OH has the wrong end of the stick there.

It's impossible to catch shingles. It's a problem with the immune system whereby people who have previously had chicken pox can even many years later have that virus triggered into shingles.

However, if you have not had chickenpox you can catch that off someone with shingles. However 90% of adults have had chickenpox in their childhood so the risk is very small.

There's no need for anyone with shingles to be off work if they feel well enough to go in.

MissSarah1972

heretolearn wrote: »

Well, your OH has the wrong end of the stick there.

It's impossible to catch shingles. It's a problem with the immune system whereby people who have previously had chicken pox can even many years later have that virus triggered into shingles.

However, if you have not had chickenpox you can catch that off someone with shingles. However 90% of adults have had chickenpox in their childhood so the risk is very small.

There's no need for anyone with shingles to be off work if they feel well enough to go in.

90%? Really? I have never had it nor has my sister or brother. You'd think at least 2.7 of us would have had it. :rotfl:

EmmaHerts

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

90%? Really? I have never had it nor has my sister or brother. You'd think at least 2.7 of us would have had it. :rotfl:

Actually, I would be more surprised if one of you had had it and the others hadn't.

caringa

Shingles is a very unpleasant illness and can make you feel really poorly. However it is not contagious. I had it when my daughter was at infant school and specifically asked the doctor whether I should go into her school or not and he explained the condition to me. If you have had chickenpox it lies dormant in your body and this can be triggered in later life (normally when you are run down) to produce Shingles.

I seem to remember that the Doctor suggested keeping away from pregnant women as catching it (shingles not pregnancy!) could be detrimental to their baby.

ktothema

As heretolearn says you can catch chicken pox off someone who has shingles. The likelihood is you are immune but there's a very small percentage of people who catch chicken pox more than once (muggings here for instance).

And as Caringa says, if you don't have immunity to chicken pox it's not great to have in pregnancy so it's worth people being informed of the potential risk.

In all likelihood though it probably won't cause many issues. There's probably lots of people who've been in your office whilst their kids have chicken pox and may be carrying the virus anyway.

sammyjammy

Last time I had shingles I was told you can go to work if you feel well enough, if people at work are concerned then cover your blisters with a dressing (if possible), mine was a very small blister patch on my lower back so didn't bother.

It really is nasty though, I would be surprised if he could go to work with it for the first few days at least.

humadoon

Del this please

maninthestreet

ktothema wrote: »

As heretolearn says you can catch chicken pox off someone who has shingles. The likelihood is you are immune but there's a very small percentage of people who catch chicken pox more than once (muggings here for instance).

And as Caringa says, if you don't have immunity to chicken pox it's not great to have in pregnancy so it's worth people being informed of the potential risk.

In all likelihood though it probably won't cause many issues. There's probably lots of people who've been in your office whilst their kids have chicken pox and may be carrying the virus anyway.

You can't catch chiclen pox via a third party, only from direct contact woth an infected person.

ktothema

maninthestreet wrote: »

You can't catch chiclen pox via a third party, only from direct contact woth an infected person.

You can catch chicken pox from objects that have been in contact with an infectious person - clothing for instance.