Shingles is an infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.
This virus is called varicella zoster. Varicella refers to chickenpox and zoster to shingles. Shingles is also called herpes zoster, because the varicella virus is in the larger herpes family of viruses. Shingles is most common in people over 60 years of age, but can occur in young people as well. Later, when the chickenpox virus is reactivated, the symptoms are called shingles.