#varicella-zoster-virus

#varicella-zoster-virus

Shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. If you've had chickenpox, the virus stays in your body and can reactivate later in life as shingles at any age, though most commonly after 50. While caused by the same virus, shingles and chickenpox are not the same illness. They present differently because, while chickenpox is the initial infection, if and when the virus reactivates, it travels along nerve pathways to the skin, producing shingles.