A Simple Guide to Rubella

Posted on September 20, 2007 by kenkee481

A Simple Guide to Rubella
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What is Rubella?
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Rubella is a infectious viral disease characterised by fever, generalised rash and swollen glands behind the ears and in the neck.
It can be spread through the air or by contact.
It can also be transmitted to a foetus by a mother with an active infection.
The disease is usually mild and may even go unnoticed. It is also called German Measles.

What are the Symptoms of Rubella?
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Most children have few symptoms.
Adults may experience a prodrome (warning symptom) of a fever, headache, malaise, runny nose, and inflamed eyes, that lasts from 1 to 5 days before the rash appears.

A person can transmit the disease from 1 week before the onset of the rash until 1 week after the rash disappears.

The child with rubella may not look or act sick, but symptoms may include:
1. low-grade fever

2.swollen glands behind the ears and at the back and sides of the neck.

3.Loss of appetite, irritability, loss of interest in personal care.

4.Rash (maculopapiular) which appears on the face and torso and spreads to the arms and legs, lasting 3 to 5 days.

5.Rarely joint pain and arthritis (more common in adult women).

Lifelong immunity to the disease follows infection.

What is the danger of Rubella?
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The disease is potentially dangerous because it is able to produce defects in a developing foetus if the mother is infected during early pregnancy.
About 10 to 15% of women in their childbearing years are susceptible to infection.

Congenital rubella syndrome occurs in 25% or more of infants born to women who acquired rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Defects may occur in an infected foetus and include deafness, cataracts, microcephaly, mental retardation, congenital heart defects, and other defects.
A miscarriage or stillbirth may occur.
Defects are rare if the infection occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Risk factors include lack of immunisation and exposure to an active case of rubella.

What is the Treatment of Rubella?
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The infected child should stay at home while sick or up to a week after the rash disappears.
There is no cure for Rubella.
Treatment of a child with rubella is usually symptomatic .

Keep your child quiet, especially if she has a fever.
Children should be kept at home while any rash is visible and for a week thereafter.
Avoid scratching the rash.
Apply Calamine lotion or give the child some antihistamine to stop the itch.
Cool sponging will help relieve fever and discomfort from a rash.
An acetaminophen-based pain reliever may also help.

If you are pregnant and are exposed to rubella, you should contact your doctor immediately.
The risk of birth defects is higher the earlier the exposure occurred in your pregnancy.
In some cases, your doctor may advise you to consider a therapeutic termination of your pregnancy.

How do you Prevent Rubella?
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Two doses of the MMR vaccine are recommended for children.
The MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine) is now given at 15 months, with a booster at the age of 12.

If your child has rubella, notify any at-risk individuals who have had contact with your child during the illness and up to 10 days before symptoms appeared, so they can seek appropriate care.

Pregnancy Concerns
If you are pregnant, and uncertain of your immunity to rubella, and suspect you have been exposed, contact your doctor immediately. There is a risk the virus can be passed to your unborn child.

If any household member is pregnant and there is any question of her not being immune, your doctor will recommend delaying immunisation of your children to prevent exposing the mother-to-be to the live, though weakened, virus in the vaccine.

At least three months before trying to become pregnant, a woman should have a blood test to see if the rubella antibodies are present.
If antibodies are not present, she should be immunised or reimmunised.

About kenkee481

Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 67. However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. He first started writing free blogs on medical conditions seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com. His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com This autobiolographical account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com. From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 700 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks. He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books. He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures. Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple. For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients. The later books go into more details of medical conditions. He has published 700 kindle Books on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter. The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health conditions and not meant as textbooks. He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke. His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre. The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall. He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) starting with the Apple computer and going to PC. The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core. The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive. He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance. His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner. The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned. This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale. Dr Kee is the author of: "A Family Doctor's Tale" "Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine" "Case Notes From A Family Doctor" “The Amazing Story of the Cold Sore Virus” “Of Bed Bugs, Lice And Scabies! Skin Infections” “A Simple Guide to Sexual Health” “A Simple Guide To Cancer” “A Simple Guide to Skin Polyp and Other Polyps” “A Simple Guide to Sexually Transmitted Diseases” “A Simple Guide To Stroke” “A Simple Guide to Women's Health” “A Simple Guide to Men's Health” “A Simple Guide to AutoImmune Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Alternative Therapy” “A Simple Guide to Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia” “A Simple Guide to Hypertension and Heart Diseases” “A Simple Guide To Liver Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetes Insipidus” “A Simple Guide to Skin Fungal Infections” “A Simple Guide to Hemorrhoids and Anal Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Genetic Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Vitamins, Minerals and Health” “A Simple Guide to Kidney Stones and Kidney Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Asthma and Lung Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Allergies” “A Simple Guide to Eating Disorders” “A Simple Guide to Thyroid Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Sleep Disorders” “A Simple Guide to Bad Breath 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Related Diseases and Use in Disease Diagnosis” “A Simple Guide to Heart Valve Diseases” “A Simple Guide to Congenital Heart Diseases” “Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)” “Life and Death of a Sperm (Speedy Gonzales)” “Life and Death of an Ovum (Lazy Lucy)” “Life and Death of a Lymphocyte (Immune Man)” “Life and Death of a Cancer Cell (Mutant)” “Life and Death of a Nerve Cell (Motor Man)” “Life and Death of a Skeletal Muscle Cell (Muscle Man)” “Life and Death of a Heart Muscle Cell (Heart Man)” “Life and Death of a Smooth Muscle Cell (Smooth Man)” “Life and Death of a Hair Follicle Cell (Hairy Man)” “Life and Death of a Liver Cell (Liver Man)” “Life and Death of a Bone Cell (Bone Man)” “Life and Death of a Nail (Nail Man)” “Life and Death of a Macrophage (Macrophage)” “Life and Death of a Skin Cell (Skin Man)” “Life and Death of a Pancreatic Islet Cell (Insulin Man)” “Life and Death of a Pancreatic Duct Cell (Pancreas Man)” “Life and Death of a Pituitary Gland Cell (Pituitary 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