Rubella Syndrome Research Paper

Symptoms Rubella symptoms do not typically present until day 7 to 14 of the infection2. At first, the infected person will exhibit no symptoms but they are still contagious. Typically, the first perceptible symptom is inflamed lymph nodes behind the ears. Before symptoms appear, the virus incubates in the host for approximately one week before becoming outwardly apparent. The first sign is a rash that appears after a week of incubation and only lasts for about three days. This rash will start on the face before spreading down to the trunk and limbs3. The rash will then disappear in the in the reverse order. In addition to swelling of the lymph nodes, joint pain can accompany the rash, but disappear when the rash disappears. Flu-like
The Rubella Virus is not at all harmful to the mother, but can be very serious to the fetus. In 80% of cases where pregnant women have contracted the Rubella Virus within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, the baby has suffered with symptoms that are associated with Congenital Rubella3. The severity of CRS can differ depending on how far along the pregnancy is. In most cases, the earlier the infection is contracted by the mother, the more severe the symptoms and the lasting disabilities will be; cases that occur later in the pregnancy yield lower risks15. Figure 4 shows the correlation between the gestation period and the severity of the symptoms in infants that have CRS. Sometimes spontaneous abortions can occur to women who are infected with Rubella at a very early stage in the
The infection can be seen in a newborn’s CSF, and urine output for up to 23 months after birth3.
History
For the longest time, Rubella was always considered to be a form of measles. It was not until 1881 that Rubella was distinguished as its own virus by two German physicians-leading to its initial identification as ‘German measles’11. However, an outbreak in India among school children lead to the renaming of the virus as ‘Rubella’, meaning ‘little red.’ ‘Rubella’ then replaced the name of German measles to distinguish it as a completely different disease.
In 1941, the link between congenital Rubella and Rubella were linked. This idea was realized by an Australian opthomolagist, Norman McAlister Gregg, when he connected the number of cataracts in children to the number of pregnant women in his clinic11. Throughout this year, there was an outbreak of Rubella among the troops in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria11. The infection spread further when the Second World War occurred, and the further spread to the civilian population as troops started to return home and accidently infect their