Are Shingles Contagious ?

As a pregnant women, it is believed that you try to best to protect yourself to avoid any virus’ attack. VZV (Varicella zoster virus) is a virus that can cause chicken pox and shingles.

Generally speaking, most pregnant women should have chickenpox in childhood, so they are immune to VZV. In this situation, you are safe from people with shingles or chicken pox. If pregnant women is not VZV non-immune, it is better for her to stay away from crowd, such as festival shopping and crowded bus, as there may be some VZV floating around from the unknown people. You can check with your doctor whether you are immune to VZV or not, and the doctor should give proper suggestion about it.

It is rare that pregnant women have chicken pox. Very rarely, complications resulting from chickenpox during pregnancy can be fatal to pregnant women. Although rare, chickenpox during pregnancy can cause complications both for the unborn baby and the pregnant woman. The risk of complications depend on how many weeks of pregnant. Research shows there is a small risk that chickenpox during pregnancy can cause complications for your unborn baby. Before the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, chickenpox does not appear to increase the risk of miscarriage. If an unborn baby get chickenpox in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is reported that less than 1% of unborn babies were affected by FVS (foetal varicella syndrome) when their mothers had chickenpox while pregnant. If you get chickenpox after week 37 pregnancy, it is unluck to tell that your baby is at risk of being born with chickenpox. If you get chickenpox seven days before or after giving birth, your baby may have chance to develop a severe type of chickenpox.

If you get shingles when you are pregnant, it is no need to be awful and was frightening. It is s usually mild, and it cannot be passed onto your baby due to your antibodies from having chicken pox. However, you should avoid contact with others or pregnant women in case they’re not immune to VZV.  You should also keep your rash covered until your last blister has scabbed over, as the open blisters can be contagious. Actually, the risk is very low, the virus is not so easy to pass to other if your blisters are covered, for example, by clothing or a dressing.