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Symptoms: Swollen lymph nodes, rash on face, spreading to body, low-grade fever, slight loss of appetite, slight redness of throat and whites of eyes
Home care: Give aspirin or paracetamol to relieve fever. Keep your child isolated from pregnant women.
Precautions
- Rubella, or German measles, contracted during the first three months of pregnancy presents a 50-50 chance of damage to the unborn baby. Before trying to become pregnant, a woman should be tested to find out if she is immune to rubella. If she is not immune, she should be vaccinated at least three months before trying to become pregnant.
- A pregnant woman who has been exposed to rubella should consult an obstetrician immediately.
- Remember that a pregnant woman, who is immune to rubella, because she had the disease earlier or has been immunized against it, will not pass rubella to her unborn child by being exposed to the disease.
- All children should be immunized against rubella.
Rubella, or German measles, is one of the mildest contagious diseases of childhood. However, it can damage the unborn baby of a pregnant woman who contracts the disease. Women who contract rubella during the first three months of pregnancy have a 50-50 chance of delivering an infant who has cataracts, a cleft palate, heart problems, or who is permanently deaf or mentally retarded.
Rubella is caused by a specific virus and can be transmitted by direct contact with an infected person or by contact with articles contaminated by urine, stool, or secretions from the nose or throat of the infected person. The incubation period – the time it takes for symptoms to develop once a person has been exposed to rubella – is 14 to 21 days. One attack provides lifelong immunity.
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