Question

Explain this statement: One acquires Chickenpox from others, but one acquires Shingles from oneself.

For microbiology

Answer 1

Chickenpox or Varicella is a viral disease caused by human herpesvirus 3 or Varicella zoster virus. An infected person develops red blisters accompanied by fever, headache etc. This disease is highly contagious. When a healthy individual comes in contact with an infected person's blister or saliva, the virus gets transmitted to that healthy individual. Because of this nature of the virus transmission, we say that one acquires chickenpox from others.

Shingle is a disease caused by the pre-existing chickenpox virus inside a person's body( the person who suffered from chickenpox earlier). For some reason, the virus breaks its dormancy and gets reactivated which results in painful rash-like symptoms is known as shingles. Therefore, we can say that shingles disease is not acquired from others, rather it comes from oneself as the virus is pre-existing inside one's body.