Herpes Herpes is the common term for a number of viruses. They all cause painful blisters and sores on various parts of the body.
Herpes zoster causes chicken pox and shingles.
They all infect you for life and there is no cure at this time. How they spread Chicken pox and Shingles are highly contagious. Just being in the same room with someone with either disease can result in infection. Both are caused by the same virus, so someone with shingles will actual pass on chicken pox to some one who has never been infected. Shingles is actually a recurrence of the chicken pox virus.