This is correct. I once had a neighbor that has shingles and she described it as a lingering effect of chickenpox. It is not a pleasant affliction. James Frelichowski Dennis Szeszko <dszeszko@gmail.com> wrote: > The same is true for human viral infections,m > > i.e., chickenpox, one "gets over " the disease, but it can recur years > > later in the form of "shingles". Which is very painful and can be > lethal. Actually, this is a different mechanism. The Varicella-Zoster virus that causes chickenpox and shingles often retreats to ganglia bundles near the spinal cord after the body mounts an impressive immune response to fight off the childhood chickenpox infection. While the virus is in the nerves it cannot be "seen" nor attacked by the immune system because the human immune system is designed not to interfere with the nervous system. For some reason, possibly as a result of an immuno-compromised state or stress, the virus reactivates later on and spreads down the nerve pathways. In short, the chickenpox virus is never truly eliminated from the body but only kept in check. (The same thing occurs with "cold sores" and concomitant herpes infections.) _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php --------------------------------- Check out the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.