Child with shingles? Is this unusual?

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I am not asking for medical advice, my son is already under the care of our PCP...He is 12 years old, and has shingles! I was surprised, because neither I nor the docs/nurses at our PCP office had not seen it in such a young person before. They seemed hesitant to diagnose it without everyone coming in to consult.

Is this common? Poor guy has fluid-filled blisters on his back and left side. He is on 1g valtrex 3 times a day for a week. I hope it helps.

I am just wondering if it is as unusual as I think to see shingles in such a young guy. He had a very mild case of chicken pox at 7mos before the vaccine was available.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

My son had chicken pox when he was nearly four... and on chemo. He was treated with varicella zoster immune globulin (V-ZiG) when his sister started to show symptoms, but ended up getting the disease anyway. So he was hospitalized for a week and given IV acyclovir q8H, which limited the disease to a minor inconvenience (a week of hospitalization!). THEN he got shingles when he was 7! I took him to our pediatrician, who had scoffed at me on the phone, and had the intense pleasure of seeing him eat crow.

Valtrex is a good choice for treating the herpes virus re-emergences like shingles. He should recover failry quickly, but he may have further episodes when he's under a lot of stress. My guy has not had any recurrences, thank heaven!

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Specializes in pediatrics.

Weakened immune system?

I had shingles as a kid (10 years old) but that was because I was on chemo for rhabdomyosarcoma. It doesn't seem like a "normal/ healthy" child should be getting shingles.

Check out http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/Mosby_factsheets/shingles.html

Hope your son gets better soon.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, ER.

My daughter had shingles when she was 9 years old. She also had chicken pox when she was 3 months old before vaccination was available.

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Weakened immune system?

I had shingles as a kid (10 years old) but that was because I was on chemo for rhabdomyosarcoma. It doesn't seem like a "normal/ healthy" child should be getting shingles.

Check out http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/Mosby_factsheets/shingles.html

Hope your son gets better soon.

Thanks for the link, it was helpful. He does not have a weakened immune system or any other health problems that we are aware of. He's a normal, healthy, sturdy and energetic 7th grader. He has been under a bit of stress, however, due to school and family issues. I suspect that is the culprit. :o

He feels fine, he is not in too much pain and no fever etc. The worst problems are: 1. He cannot be around my brother (who we see several times a week) until it clears up, as my brother is immunosuppressed (recent kidney/pancreas transplant). 2. His big brother (big BOTHER) keeps teasing him for having **herpes**:uhoh3: Aye carumba....teenage boys are such a joy sometimes LOL

The blisters formed within a couple days, and are now mostly scabs...it look like it is clearing up on schedule. Thanks for your kind words, everyone!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

I've seen it in normal healthy kids, two or three cases over the years. The youngest was 4 or 5.

In my experience the kids don't seem to have the same level of pain that the adults do. The youngest one I saw didn't have pain at all, just some itching.

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My daughter had them when she was around 3. She never had chicken pox but did recieve the vaccine. It started on her thigh, the doctor didnt know what it was at first. After watching it for a few days she was diagnosed with shingles. She did not have any pain, it was just ugly looking on her leg. It covered basically her entire front part of her thigh.

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My 11 year old son broke out with an ugly awful rash just around one side of his torso last summer. When I saw it I said to my husband "my gosh, it looks like shingles...but it can't be; kids don't get shingles!". So my husband took him to the doctor while I went to class and sure enough that's what it was. I had been an Immunization nurse at our local health dept for years and had never known a child to have shingles. He responded well to treatment and never once complained with pain and let me tell you it was a BAD rash. If it had been on me I'd have been crying! Must be something to kids not feeling the pain from the virus like adults do. I've heard some horror stories from the older folks in my family.

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Well, it's been a week, and his blisters have all turned to scabs and the affected area is shrinking. It looks like it's clearing up nicely, and didn't have too much pain except for the first three days or so. Whew! I remember my grandfather having it in his eyes, he was miserable for weeks.

Thank you all for the advice and info! Now I know what to look for if it recurs. I'm just glad I got him to the Dr., and on the Valtrex early on.

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