Prior to immunisation the rubella virus circulated freely amongst the population, with the UK experiencing regular epidemics. It occurred commonly in children and more than 80% of adults showed some evidence of catching the disease at some point (Morgan Capner et al, 1988).
Today there is little wild virus circulating, although localised outbreaks do occur. Data from the Health Protection Agency shows 2770 confirmed cases of rubella in 1996, the last significant outbreak in the UK. There have been just over 600 confirmed cases in the years since then, with only a handful confirmed each year.
Rubella is a notifiable disease, in that Doctors have to report suspected cases which can then be confirmed by a laboratory. Despite this surveillance it is likely that rubella is under reported and so the data does not show the true number of cases.
The dangers of outbreaks of the disease are illustrated by the outbreak in 1996. This resulted in 12 babies being born damaged by rubella in that year.
