Rubella in pregnancy

What it is

Rubella, also known as German measles, is a viral infection. One page names the cause as Rubella virus (Rubivirus), another as the togavirus, and a third puts it with the paramyxovirus group.

In the mother the illness is mild. Its whole weight in pregnancy is what it does to the fetus: congenital rubella is teratogenic. Following the introduction of the MMR vaccine it is now rare, and the scenario still occurs particularly in immigrant communities.

The incubation period is 14-21 days, and individuals are infectious from 7 days before symptoms appear to 4 days after the onset of the rash.

How it presents in the mother

• Low grade fever
• Sore throat, coryza, headache
• Lymphadenopathy, posterior auricular, and posterior cervical nodes
• Erythematous, tender maculopapular rash, and joint pain
• Forchheimer spots: red spots on soft palate, also put as rose spots on the palate

The rash in measles and rubella starts from the head and then descend down, and what separates them is that rubella doesn't have the 4 Cs of measles, which are coryza, conjunctivitis, cough and Koplik spots. In contrast to measles, children with rubella often have only a low-grade fever and do not appear as ill. The prodrome is put as mild constitutional symptoms.