Shingles Outbreak in Children in the Sioux Falls Area

A few weeks ago Mirabel told me about her son. He had a rash and was running around screaming in pain. She took him to the doctor and the doctor diagnosed him with Herpes Zoster, otherwise known as Shingles. I thought this was odd. This usually manifests in older people. Last week, Jennifer said that her daughter seemed to have a bug bite that was growing and getting more sore. She didn't take her daughter to the doctor because like all kids, her daughter had a tendency to scratch them until eventually they would scab over and go away. Friday she took her daughter in because her daughter was crying that it hurt so much and it had gotten so much redder. Diagnosis: Shingles. Her doctor said that was the third case of Shingles in children that he had seen in the last week. I went on the CDC website to see if there was any information about it. Although Chicken Pox is a reportable virus, Shingles is not. The CDC didn't have any news about unusual outbreaks of Shingles. So, I contacted Jaine Andrews at KELO. She does the Healthbeat feature on the news. She also felt this was unusual and is checking into it. Hopefully she will find some answers. This seems very odd that we are having a sudden outbreak of Shingles in children. Both children have had the Chicken Pox. Unfortunately, until further research comes up with better treatments or preventions these children will probably be dealing with this for the rest of their lives.