Risk of pregnancy rubella rubella - what you should watch out for!

 Risk of pregnancy rubella rubella - what you should watch out for!

Expert Dr. Hess: "At the beginning of pregnancy it is usually determined whether the mother has developed antibodies against parvoviruses. Then there is no danger." Photo: private

Rubella (Erythema infectiosum) is a - in most cases - harmless viral disease. But in about a third of all pregnant women, it can cause serious harm to unborn life. The problem with this is that there is no vaccination and the virus is extremely resistant.

 

This is what the pediatrician Dr. Nadine Hess:

To protect themselves from the highly contagious viruses, pregnant women in particular should wash their hands well several times a day . Studies show that around a third of all women have not produced any antibodies against the virus. In such cases, in the event of an infection, it is again transmitted from the mother to the child in a third of the cases. * 

In the unborn child, the virus can cause severe anemia (= anemia), heart muscle inflammation with possible heart failure and so-called hydrops fetalis (= generalized accumulation of fluid throughout the body, including in the body cavities). Fortunately, the mortality rate of unborn babies after infection in the womb is only around 5-10 percent.

At the beginning of the pregnancy it is usually determined whether the mother has developed antibodies against parvoviruses . Then there is no danger. Otherwise, if an infection has occurred, the doctor will carefully and repeatedly check that everything is okay with your baby and that you can continue to enjoy the pregnancy. If necessary, the doctor will treat an anemia in the unborn child with transfusions.   

But actually rubella is a typical childhood disease . After a non-specific preliminary stage with fever , exhaustion , muscle and headache , the classic signs appear after about a week.

 

Symptoms of rubella infection

Crimson cheeks (= slapped cheeks, the children look as if they have been slapped), after a few days

garland-like redness on shoulders, upper arms, thighs, some of which are somewhat raised and can merge; the trunk is rarely affected.

The skin symptoms usually last a few days, then go away and can reappear for up to 16 weeks **. Up to 20 percent of sick children and around half of sick adults develop arthritis, an inflammation of the joints, especially of the wrists and kneesinfested. Arthritis is self-limiting, which means that it goes away on its own within a few weeks and heals without consequences. The rubella does not run symptomatically in everyone with the characteristics described - in many the infection is clinically silent, that is, one is sick but has no symptoms. The good thing about it: An infection with Parvovirus B19 leaves you with lifelong immunity, regardless of whether the disease was symptomatic or not.

* Yaegashi N, Niinuma T, Chisaka H, ​​Watanabe T, Uehara S, Okamura K, et al. The incidence of, and factors leading to, parvovirus B19-related hydrops fetalis following maternal infection; report of 10 cases and meta-analysis. J Infect. 1998; 37 (1): 28-35

** Peter H. Höger, Pediatric Dermatology, 3rd edition, see especially pp. 395-96