A virus that causes a person to have chickenpox it the same that causes the skin rash known as shingles.  This virus is found in the Herpes group of virus and is medically known as the VZV, Varicella zoster virus.  Once a person has had the chickenpox, the virus will live within their nervous system, and will not ever be fully eliminated from a person’s body.  

When a person is having some emotional stress, cancer, or an immune deficiency, this virus will reactivate itself and cause an outbreak of shingles.  A person that has had chickenpox before is at the risking point of developing shingles.  However, it generally occurs to people that are over 60 years of age.  In just the U.S. alone there has been an estimated of approximately 1,000,000 cases per year.

The virus that causes a person to have genital herpes is not the same virus that causes chickenpox and shingles.