Rubella and the Rubella Syndrome—New Epidemiologic and Virologic Observations

The importance of rubella lies in the 15 to 20 per cent incidence of damage to the fetus when infection occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy. The “rubella syndrome” appears as various combinations of congenital defects, chiefly cardiac anomalies, cataracts and impaired hearing. Now that the rubella virus has been isolated and grown in tissue culture, it is possible to study the spread of the disease, to determine apparent and inapparent infection rates and to investigate the nature of fetal infection. It has been found that the disease is a highly contagious one in the family setting, and that inapparent infections are more common than overt cases with rash. Infection of the fetus in the early weeks of intrauterine life may become chronic, and virus has been recovered from placenta and fetal specimens collected at induced abortions many weeks after the maternal disease. Infants born with the rubella syndrome are still shedding virus at birth and may continue to do so for at least several months. Gamma globulin, which is effective in preventing measles and hepatitis, has not been highly effective in the prevention of rubella when given to those exposed to the disease. Successful control of the rubella problem will depend upon the development of an active vaccine, which is a possibility now that the virus can be grown in tissue culture.