Covid & Shingles is there a link?

Could it be that there’s quite a lot of chicken pox/shingles about and that’s why people are getting shingles? There certainly was a lot of chicken pox around in the summer, maybe there still is.

Shinamae I did a little experiment and didnt take them for about a month. I was a perfectly normal human being.
When I resumed, I sounded like the brass section of the orchestra.
Tromboning all over the place.
They say it gets better, but I have no evidence of that!

maddyone

Could it be that there’s quite a lot of chicken pox/shingles about and that’s why people are getting shingles? There certainly was a lot of chicken pox around in the summer, maybe there still is.

No - you can't get shingles from someone else with shingles or chickenpox. Only get it "from yourself" as virus lies dormant in the body after a chickenpox infection which may have been many years earlier.
However, a person who never had chickenpox could be infected by a person with shingles.
If all children were vaccinated against chickenpox, they would also be protected against shingles.

Namsnanny

Shinamae I did a little experiment and didnt take them for about a month. I was a perfectly normal human being.
When I resumed, I sounded like the brass section of the orchestra.
Tromboning all over the place.
They say it gets better, but I have no evidence of that!

Well at least I know what it is now, thank you. I can’t even wee without releasing some gas ??…?‍♀️

maddyone I do the same with my FFP2 masks and haven't had Covid so far (that I know about).

Your son is correct. Strictly speaking, viruses aren't even alive. They need a host to latch on to and if they don't have one, they become "deactivated".

It would be possible for somebody to sneeze on their hand, touch a surface and for somebody else to touch the same surface and wipe their nose, mouth or eyes almost immediately and the virus might spread.

Unless somebody sneezes or coughs directly on to your mask, it's unlikely to be contaminated. Any bacteria on it are likely to have come from you (the wearer) and would be no worse than the bacteria on a scarf or collar - and I doubt if you wash or throw away your scarves and coats every time you wear them.

The above is a potted version of something my partner told me - he does research on virus spike proteins.

Well I've got a cold which I am assuming that I picked up in A and E on Saturday. I have tested negative and still carer for DH who not only has shingles but other health issues. I did wear a mask most of the time.......

Oh thank you growstuff for that information, it’s nice to have confirmation from your partner who is qualified to speak about the ability of the virus to survive on surfaces.
When I remember the various news reports I saw during the height of the pandemic about how the virus could survive, sometimes for days, on various surfaces, I begin to think there was a lot of scaremongering going on. The virus was serious for those of us who caught it then, without scaremongering going on to terrify us. When I think how we used to wipe all our shopping with a bleach solution and how ridiculous that was, and I caught the virus and was hospitalised anyway. I caught it from my elderly mother who had picked it up in hospital after a fall, and we were in a bubble with her at that time, and there were we, ridiculously wiping the shopping down for nothing.

Thank you also Farmor for the information about shingles. The best protection therefore is obviously to get the vaccination when it’s offered.

You're welcome *maddyone. Despite knowing how viruses work, my idiotic partner still managed to catch Covid. His son had been to a family wedding, where nobody wore masks because they all "knew" each other. Fortunately, my partner and I don't live together and he was symptomatic before we were due to see each other. It was just before I was due to have cancer surgery, so I cocooned myself at home for a few days and tested myself every day - I escaped, thank goodness!

That was a very sensible thing to do growstuff. I have have two friends who are being treated for cancer at the moment, but I always test before going to see them. I tested yesterday too, as I was going to get my new implant fitted (hurray, the tooth I lost pre Covid is now replaced and I have a full set of teeth again.) There was no requirement to test, but I consider it a curtesy to test before such treatment takes place.
Like your partner, we didn’t wear masks last month for my mother’s funeral. We would have have had to remove them in order to eat at the wake anyway and so it seemed pointless. Anyway I was very upset at the church and wouldn’t have been able to wipe my eyes and nose properly with a mask on. Luckily no one got Covid after the funeral.

maddyone

Oh thank you growstuff for that information, it’s nice to have confirmation from your partner who is qualified to speak about the ability of the virus to survive on surfaces.
When I remember the various news reports I saw during the height of the pandemic about how the virus could survive, sometimes for days, on various surfaces, I begin to think there was a lot of scaremongering going on. The virus was serious for those of us who caught it then, without scaremongering going on to terrify us. When I think how we used to wipe all our shopping with a bleach solution and how ridiculous that was, and I caught the virus and was hospitalised anyway. I caught it from my elderly mother who had picked it up in hospital after a fall, and we were in a bubble with her at that time, and there were we, ridiculously wiping the shopping down for nothing.

That was me, too, maddyone. Shopping, door handles, car steering wheel and door handles - everywhere stank of hypochlorite!

Then I read some research in which it was attempted to culture the virus from an 'infected' surface and it couldn't be done...

It still angers me that the WHO didn’t acknowledge that the virus was airborne for so long and even our scientific advisors said masks wouldn’t work. Of course, the masks we used at the beginning wouldn’t have worked against omicron but, imo when they were eventually introduced they saved lives. We took every precaution possible from early 2020 and continued to disinfect our shopping till quite recently and we’ve never stopped using masks. I went into a marquee at a craft fair a few weeks ago and didn’t wear a mask and was furious with myself for doing so. It wasn’t even a very good craft fair. Thankfully I was ok. What I have noticed is that, on my nightly walk up the village it was always me that walked into the road to avoid being too close to people walking back from the pub ( the path is quite narrow and the road has very fast traffic on it at times) but over the past few months everyone else moves into the road. This is a definite cultural change that I think will remain so for the foreseeable future. Although I’m no longer concerned about walking past people in the open air!