Rubella can seriously affect pregnant women, damaging their unborn child - particularly the foetus’ sight, hearing, heart and brain develop.
Infection in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy causes 90% of infants to be damaged - typically their heart, eyes, ears and brain, often in combination. In the next six weeks a third of infants are affected, usually but not always restricted to hearing loss. Later infection is rarely associated with damage, and is referred to as congenital rubella infection.
What doesn’t work?
Avoiding people who have rubella is not an effective way to stop yourself from catching the disease and passing it on to your unborn child (or your friends’ unborn children) because:
- People are infectious before they develop the symptoms
- Some people who catch rubella (and can then pass it on) do not develop any symptoms
- Rubella is a rash disease and can appear, even to a GP, like other rash diseases. The only way to confirm a diagnosis is through laboratory tests, by which time it is too late…
Immunisation is the only way to protect against rubella.
We protect unborn children by:
- Ensuring young children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine.
- Children who have missed or delayed having catch up vaccinations at any stage.
- Women who are thinking about becoming pregnant having their immunity tested.
For more information on the effects of rubella on pregnancy click on the links below:
