Rubella is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which mainly affects children between 5 and 9 years of age. Symptoms include fever, headache and throat, malaise, presence of nodules behind the ear, neck and nape, and the appearance of small pink spots by the body. The treatment is only intended to relieve symptoms and prevention is done through the vaccine.
The transmission of rubella occurs from person to person, usually through droplets of saliva or respiratory secretion eliminated by sick people when talking, coughing or sneezing. Contamination through contact with contaminated objects is rare.
The disease can also be transmitted from the mother to the fetus during pregnancy (congenital rubella), which may leave irreversible sequelae in the baby.
The incubation period varies between 2 and 3 weeks. After this period, the first signs and symptoms begin to appear: low fever, nodules in the neck and behind the ear, pink spots which appear first on the face and then spread through the body.
Rubella is not considered a serious illness and the symptoms usually go away spontaneously after a week. There is no specific treatment for rubella. Symptoms can be alleviated with medicines for pain and fever. It is also recommended that the patient rest and avoid contact with other persons for 10 days after the appearance of the spots.
Already the congenital rubella is very dangerous due to the risk of fetal malformations. The disease occurs when the woman gets rubella during pregnancy, infecting the fetus. Congenital rubella can cause blindness, deafness, heart problems, delayed growth, premature birth and even death at birth.
After acquiring the disease, the person becomes immune for the rest of his life. Immunization also confers immunity against rubella for most of its life. If the mother is already immune, she passes the antibodies to the baby, who is protected against rubella for up to 9 months after birth. Then it is necessary to take the vaccine.
The first dose of vaccine against rubella is given with 1 year age, through the triple virus, which protects against rubella, measles and mumps. The second dose is given between the 4 and 6 years of age. Adolescents and adults under 50 should also be vaccinated against rubella even if they have had the disease.
Women who have never had rubella should take the vaccine at least 30 days before becoming pregnant, as the pregnant women can not be vaccinated.
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