James Parnell answered
Can cats get shingles from humans?
No, humans cannot pass shingles to cats. In fact, only a very small number of diseases can be transferred between species, anyway.
The most common kind of diseases which are transferred from animals to humans are bacterial infections.
If a cat scratches you when it has faeces on its claw, then in theory this could cause the wound to become infected. This would pass the E-Coli bacteria from the cat's excrement to you.
No, humans cannot pass shingles to cats. In fact, only a very small number of diseases can be transferred between species, anyway.
The most common kind of diseases which are transferred from animals to humans are bacterial infections.
If a cat scratches you when it has faeces on its claw, then in theory this could cause the wound to become infected. This would pass the E-Coli bacteria from the cat's excrement to you.
- Shingles is a viral disease, and therefore cannot be passed between species. For example, the common human cold could not make your cat ill, and you could not catch cat 'flu.
- Shingles causes a painful skin rash, which is usually in the shape of a stripe.
- The disease is caused by the chickenpox virus which is normally occurs in children and young people. Shingles can sometimes appear years after a person has contracted chickenpox.
- The medical name for shingles is herpes zoster, which is not the same as herpes simplex, but both forms belong to the same family of viruses.
