Your children have been vaccinated against it. But now, at least in America, German measles, or rubella is a thing of the past.
Rubella was a huge problem when baby boomers were kids. Remember the old rubella vaccine umbrella campaign, urging parents to vaccinate their children against the disease? Well now, due to those immunizations, rubella is no longer an issue in America.
“We are delighted to declare that rubella has been eliminated from the United States,” stated Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at an immunization conference today.
Pediatrician Stephen Turner with long island college hospital says this is a huge success story. “This is obviously a major achievement. The first achievement was eradicating polio and now rubella is really our second success story.”
The name rubella means “little red”, referring to the rash that appears on the face first, and then to the rest of the body. It was first described in the German medical literature in 1814, which is why it is called German measles. It’s transmitted by respiratory droplets, such as are emitted when people cough or sneeze.
The real problem with rubella is that it can be transmitted through the placenta from a pregnant woman to her unborn baby. The disease can affect all organs, especially causing heart problems, liver and spleen damage, skeletal defects, and cataracts in babies.
Here in the U.S., the largest number of annual cases peaked in 1969. That year, a rubella vaccine was licensed, and this caused the numbers of rubella cases to plummet.
“Vaccinating your child not only protects your own child, but protects other children in the community as well,” says Dr. Turner.
The rubella vaccine is given as a part of the MMR vaccine, which is given to all infants less than twelve months of age, and then again between four and six years of age. Most cases since the mid-1990s have occurred among young Hispanic adults who were born in areas where the rubella vaccine is no longer given. But now these cases of rubella, and all the others, have been eliminated. Children will still need to be vaccinated, because the disease still exists elsewhere in the world.
“In this country, while we can celebrate this milestone we have to remain vigilant. Our protection network against rubella is only as strong as the weakest link,” says Dr. Gerberding.