### Human:\nwhat is the difference between shingles and herpes the sexually trasmitted disease?\n\n### Assistant: hi from thebody. com found you this. shingles is a very painful disease caused by the same herpes virus that causes chicken pox (varicella zoster virus). like other herpes viruses the varicella-zoster virus has an initial infectious stage (chicken pox) followed by a dormant stage. then with no warning the virus becomes active again. about 20% of people who have had chicken pox will eventually develop shingles. this reactivation of the virus is most likely to occur in people with a weakened immune system. this includes people with hiv disease and anyone over 50 years old. does this help you as an answer? good luck