Difference Between Genital Herpes & Shingles

Genital herpes and shingles (also known as herpes zoster) are caused by two of eight types of viruses in the herpes family known to commonly infect humans. While the lesions that result from these viruses are markedly similar, the cause of each is very different.

Different HSV Types

• Genital herpes is cause by the herpes simplex 1 or herpes simplex 2 virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2). Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, another type of HSV.

How You Get Shingles

• Shingles can affect anyone who's had chicken pox. The varicella-zoster virus that caused chicken pox embeds itself in the nerve ganglia in the spinal cord or in the brain, according to the Mayo Clinic. Shingles present as watery clusters of blisters, usually on one side of the body or sometimes the face.

How You Get Genital Herpes

• Genital herpes caused by HSV-2 is transmitted through direct genital contact (intercourse) 90 percent of the time, says the Mayo Clinic. Genital herpes can also be caused when someone with HSV-1 of the mouth performs oral sex on an uninfected partner. Genital herpes lesions also present as watery clusters of blisters, but affect the skin closest to the virus' point of entry: the genitals, buttocks, anus and thighs.

Are They Contagious?

• Genital herpes is extremely contagious--and easy to acquire. Mayo Clinic experts say 70 percent of people became infected when their sexual partner showed no symptoms because the virus asymptomatically sheds and escapes through tiny breaks in an infected person's skin. Shingles cannot be spread to other people--but someone with shingles can give another person chicken pox if they've never had it before or received a chicken pox vaccine.

Medical Treatment

• Both genital herpes and shingles are treated with the same prescription oral medications: acyclovir, famciclovir and valacyclovir. Those with shingles require treatment only when an outbreak is imminent or present. However, the Mayo Clinic recommends that those with genital herpes who experience frequent outbreaks or who have sex with uninfected partners take these medications daily.