Shingles

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Im a nursing student and had a patient who has shingles last night. My questions are; can the virus live on inanimate objects? and 2, I touched a scabbed over/dried part of the shingles with gloves on by accident, then about 5 minutes later while I was ungowning, I accidentally touched my ears with my gloved hand which came in contact with the patient's rash. Is the glove to ears a possible mode of transfer? Yes Im immune to chicken pox, the only thing im worried about is carrying the virus with me and spread it to my brother who never had it.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

you get shingles if you've already had chicken pox. the virus lives in your body, and manifests when you're run down, under stress, immunosuppressed, etc. if you've already had chicken pox, you're already exposed to shingles, so to speak.

as far as your brother goes, shouldn't he be immunized against chicken pox?

he wasnt born here, which is why he was not vaccined.

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We often get cases of shingles on our unit, and we have always been told by Infection Prevention and Control that as long as the patient's shingles are scabbed over there is no chance of its spreading...the only time that you should be worried is if it is leaking and has disseminated (you have to have more than two dermatomes for it to be considered disseminated). Your brother should be okay! :rolleyes:

thanks for the replies!

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