Rubella
The MMR vaccine should really be known as the autism vaccine. It earns this reputation not because the vaccine triggers autism, but it can prevent autism. More specifically, the rubella component of the vaccine can prevent congenital rubella syndrome in babies. Autism, or profound mental retardation, is the primary and most devastating complication of congenital rubella syndrome.
Fact
As a side effect of the rubella scourge of the 1960s, the abortion rate spiked because desperate mothers attempted to terminate their pregnancies to avoid giving birth to severely deformed and retarded babies.
Rubella (German measles) does not cause a serious illness for children and adults. At most, a mild fever with a rash and some joint pain is all that there is to it when the infection strikes. But if a pregnant woman gets the infection during the first three months of pregnancy, the fetus would most likely suffer birth defects. Similar to polio, rubella became a much more serious problem when sanitation and the standard of living improved in this country. Instead of getting the infection during infancy or childhood, girls managed to stay away from the infection until they became women. Suddenly in the 1960s, a large number of women were miscarrying or giving birth to babies who were blind, deaf, and retarded. Congenital rubella became a national scourge in the 1960s.
Between 1964 and 1965, rubella devastated the nation, leading to more than 10,000 miscarriages and more than 25,000 babies born with severe birth defects. Many of these children ended as wards of the state because social services were not available at the time to place children with special needs. Even devoted parents eventually gave up these children because the parents were unable to communicate with and care for them.
Symptoms of the Rubella Infection
Symptoms of a rubella infection include:
Fever
Headache
Fatigue
Runny nose
Swollen or tender lymph nodes
Bloodshot eyes
Muscle or joint pain
Rash with pink or red spots (rash may merge to form patches and can be itchy)
How Does One Catch It?
Rubella is easily transmitted from one person to another by contact or through the air. Most people catch the infection in late winter and early spring. Pregnant women often get exposed to rubella from unvaccinated school-age children, frequently from their own children.
When children get the infection, they often exhibit no symptoms at all. Since it is impossible to tell who might have rubella, this infection cannot be prevented by avoiding sick people. Rubella is most contagious when the rash associated with it is visible, but for many people, the rash never appears.
How Common Is the Infection?
In the early 1960s, rubella was rampant in the United States. More than 12 million people were diagnosed with rubella, and more than 20,000 babies were disabled by congenital rubella syndrome.
Alert
Rubella can be devastating to a fetus if a pregnant woman contracts the disease. Many children become mentally retarded or have serious heart problems resulting from congenital rubella syndrome.
However, that statistic is just a history lesson. Congenital rubella syndrome is now extremely rare in the United States. In the past ten years, less than ten babies were born with congenital rubella syndrome. The massive epidemic of rubella is now a distant memory.
How Serious Is the Infection?
The rubella infection itself does not cause any serious problems. If rubella strikes a child or a grown man, it is an inconsequential illness. It only causes problems when a pregnant woman catches the infection.
Babies with congenital rubella syndrome are almost always born very small, and eight out of ten babies born to mothers who were infected with rubella are deformed or disabled. Deafness is the most common permanent problem associated with congenital rubella syndrome. About 60 percent of children with congenital rubella syndrome are severely hearing impaired. Approximately 40 percent of these children are born with cataract, glaucoma, and retinal abnormalities. Heart problems affect many of these children as well, and sometimes heart problems can be fatal if diagnosis is delayed.
Behavioral problems that are similar or indistinguishable from autism commonly affect children with congenital rubella syndrome, and many children are mentally retarded. Congenital rubella syndrome is one of the few known causes of autism.
Essential
Congenital rubella syndrome is most likely to occur if the pregnant woman gets infected during the first trimester of the pregnancy. If she gets sick after the second trimester, congenital rubella syndrome virtually never occurs.
Is the Infection Treatable?
The rubella infection itself does not require treatment because it is a mild illness that gets better on its own. Congenital rubella syndrome, on the other hand, cannot be treated because the damage to the baby has already been done to the fetus by the time the baby is born.
Various corrective measures are available to fix the birth defects. Eye surgery can replace the diseased lenses in the eyes, and hearing aids are available to partially restore hearing in some individuals. The brain damage that occurs in some people is irreversible. Special adaptive lesson plans in school may help these children to learn and become more independent, but they will never function at the same level as their healthy peers.
