Can kidney transplant patients catch shingles?

Answer 1

Liver transplant recipients can get shingles. Shingles which is caused by Varicella zoster, the virus responsible for chicken pox. Following chicken pox infection the virus can lie dormant in nerve endings for many years. Shingles requires prompt treatment in immunosuppressed individuals. Treatment can be given orally in the form of Aciclovir, if however the shingles rash does not respond to this then Intra-venous Aciclovir should be administered. The painful rash usually clears up after 2-3 weeks however the area affected may remain painful and sensitive for some time after a shingles outbreak.

Answer 2

Kidney transplant patients are at greater-than-normal risk for contracting shingles. I fear, however, that this question may be based on a bad assumption. You don't "catch" shingles. Let me explain... Shingles or herpes zoster as it is known by doctors, is a syndrome caused by a re-activation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This is the exact same virus that causes chickenpox. VZV is a herpes virus, and just like other herpes viruses, it has a peculiar characteristic: after the initial infection is over, it remains in the body, quietly living forever in the nervous system. It generally causes no further problems. Unless, that is, due to illness, stress, or immune compromise (like that occurring due to anti-organ-rejection drugs used in kidney transplant patients) it comes out of hibernation and re-activates. The virus comes out of a part of the nervous system called the dorsal root ganglion and travels down that single nerve root to the skin surface, where it causes the characteristic eruption of shingles. So, you see, the person didn't catch shingles, they actually caught chickenpox - years and years before. A word of caution: there are viral particles in the sores of shingles, so anyone who is not immune to chickenpox (either through immunization or past infection) is at risk of catching chickenpox from the shingles patient.

Answer 3

Kidney transplant patients can receive the shingles vaccine BEFORE they get their transplant, but should not receive it at any time AFTER they receive the transplant.