VERIFY QUESTION

Have you ever had chicken pox? The Shingles virus is already hibernating inside your body, ready to activate.

Shingles is a painful rash that develops on one side of the body, face or torso. A person gets Shingles when the dormant chicken pox virus reactivates in the nerve tissue.

WFMY News 2 viewer Mary Cloos Turner asked, "Is it true that Shingles can kill you, if they make a complete circle around your body?"

VERIFY SOURCE

To VERIFY, we consulted the CDC and Dr. Chan Badger, a family medicine physician at Novant Health Northern Family Medicine in Greensboro.

VERIFY PROCESS

Dr. Badger said, "The answer is no. By definition, Shingles only involves one nerve -- one side of the body -- and should not ever make a complete circle around the body. There are complications of Shingles but none of them can lead to death, as a general rule."

He added there is a small (.05 percent) chance of a person with Shingles getting Meningitis, but even that is rarely deadly.

Shingles is common. The CDC says one in three Americans will develop Shingles. Most will have only one Shingles episode in their lifetimes. There is a new Shingles vaccine on the market called Shingrix, and doctors recommend healthy adults 50 and older get two doses of it.

VERIFY CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the answer to Mary's question is no. There is no such thing as a Shingles 'circle' that will kill you.