Can the virus that causes shingles live on objects like phones and counter tops and if so for how long?
Shingles is a contagious infection as direct exposure to it can lead to you catching a disease – chickenpox. However you cannot catch shingles from another person
To be more precise, you can’t catch shingles from another person, but if you have never had chickenpox, you can easily catch chickenpox from someone who has shingles.
Shingles infection is caused by the same virus which causes chickenpox.
Under stressful conditions or when immunity is low, this virus becomes reactivated affecting mainly skin tissues on sections of the trunk (but sometimes also the eye area, face and limbs) with an infectious skin rash.
Infection is transmitted by contact with the weeping tissues or skin rash and the risk of infection remains high until the rashes become scabbed and dry up.
Shingles can only be transmitted by direct contact with the infected skin or objects that have been in contact with the infected skin such as clothes, bedsheets, blankets, bandages, swabs, used medical equipment etc.
Presumably, if an infected person touched their weeping lesions by hand and then made a call on their mobile phone, that would then become infectious as well.
It is essential that these things are either securelly disposed or sterilised
Note that you can only catch an infection from someone with shingles if you have never had chickenpox before and also even then, you cant catch shingles itself directly but only chickenpox. You may of course develop shingles later, from your own reactivated chickenpox virus if your immunity is lowered.
4 comments
Kathy P
April 15, 2011 at 10:29 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
yes!!1 very much so.
JWas
April 15, 2011 at 10:29 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, VZV, can be spread from a person with active shingles to a person who has never had chickenpox through direct contact with the rash. The person exposed would develop chickenpox, not shingles. The virus is not spread through sneezing, coughing or casual contact.
TweetyBird
April 15, 2011 at 10:29 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
No, shingles is NOT contagious. Do some research and get better informed about it.
Audrey B
April 15, 2011 at 10:29 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Yes shingles is contagious but only for the incubation period which is the time there is a fever. it is best to protect yourself with disinfected to stop the tranfering of germs.