Rubella

(Including Congenital Rubella Syndrome)
(German measles, Three-day measles)

Rubella is a vaccine preventable virus with mild symptoms associated with a rash and can be spread through the air or by close contact. In children and adults, rubella is usually mild and may even go unnoticed. But in expectant mothers, it can be transmitted to a fetus by a mother with an active infection and can produce defects in a developing fetus. One fourth of all infants born to mothers with rubella will contract congenital rubella syndrome. The further along that rubella is contracted in the pregnancy, the better the chances the infant will not be infected. If transmitted, one or more defects may occur in a fetus. These include deafness, cataracts, mental retardation, heart defects, and other problems. Fetal death may also occur.

Most cases are reported in the late winter and early spring. Symptoms might appear 12 to 23 days after infection, although 25 percent to 50 percent of cases show no symptoms at all.

Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Headache
• General discomfort
• Runny nose
• Inflammation of the eyes
• Rash with skin redness or inflammation
• Muscle or joint pain

A person can transmit the disease from a few days before the appearance of the rash, until 5 to 7 days after the rash disappears. Lifelong immunity to the disease follows infection.

Rubella is preventable with vaccination in combination with measles and mumps vaccine, or MMR. Rubella virus vaccine is recommended for all children and is given between 12 and 15 months of age. A second vaccination is given between the ages of 4 to 6. The number of rubella cases in the United States has decreased by 99 percent since the vaccine was introduced.

Please contact your doctor, local health department or the Department of Health and Senior Services (866-628-9891) if you have other questions about rubella.