eMedicine Specialties > Emergency Medicine > Pediatric

Pediatrics, Rubella: Follow-up

Author: Pamela L Dyne, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine/Emergency Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
Coauthor(s): Peter Bloomfield, MD, MPH, Clinical Instructor, Olive View-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine; Director, Quality Assurance, Brotman Medical Center Emergency Medicine
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Sep 25, 2009

Follow-up

Further Outpatient Care

  • Arrange follow-up care with the patient's primary physician.

Deterrence/Prevention

  • As a physician, emphasizing the safety of the MMR vaccine to patients is important. 

Prognosis

  • Beyond the fetal period, rubella is generally benign and self-limiting and without complications.
  • Infants born with congenital rubella syndrome may have a variety of complications; therefore, their prognosis depends on the severity of their malformations.

Patient Education

Miscellaneous

Medicolegal Pitfalls

  • Failure to consider the diagnosis in a patient with a potentially pregnant and unimmunized family member
  • For the obstetrician, failure to perform serologic screening for rubella.
 
Acknowledgments

The authors and editors of eMedicine gratefully acknowledge the contributions of previous author, Kelli N McCartan, MD, to the development and writing of this article.



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References
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References

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  2. CDC. Elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome--United States, 1969-2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. Mar 25 2005;54(11):279-82. [Medline].

  3. Elliman D, Bedford H. MMR: where are we now?. Arch Dis Child. Dec 2007;92(12):1055-7. [Medline].

  4. Schmid D, Kasper S, Kuo HW, Aberle S, Holzmann H, Daghofer E. Ongoing rubella outbreak in Austria, 2008-2009. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(16):[Medline].

  5. Ahlgren C, Toren K, Oden A, Andersen O. A population-based case-control study on viral infections and vaccinations and subsequent multiple sclerosis risk. Eur J Epidemiol. Jul 26 2009;[Medline].

  6. McElroy R, Laskin M, Jiang D, Shah R, Ray JG. Rates of rubella immunity among immigrant and non-immigrant pregnant women. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. May 2009;31(5):409-13. [Medline].

  7. CDC. CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Achievements in Public Health: Elimination of Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome—United States, 1969-2004. JAMA. 2005;293:2084-6.

  8. Fisher RG, Boyce TG. Prenatal infections. In: Moffet's Pediatric Infectious Disease: A Problem-Oriented Approach. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005:631-2.

  9. Maldonado Y. Rubella. In: Behrman RE, Kliegman R, Jenson HB, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders; 2004:1032-4.

  10. Mercurio MG, Elewski BE. Cutaneous manifestations of systemic viral, bacterial, and fungal infections and protozoal disease. In: Dermatologic Signs of Internal Disease. 2nd ed. 1995:254.

  11. Palacin PS, Castilla Y, Garzon P, Figueras C, Castellvi J, Espanol T. Congenital rubella syndrome, hyper-IgM syndrome and autoimmunity in an 18-year-old girl. J Paediatr Child Health. Oct 2007;43(10):716-8. [Medline].

  12. Sanchez PJ. Viral infections of the fetus and neonate. In: Feigin RD, Cherry J, Demmler GJ, Sheldon S, eds. Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders; 2004:881-5.

  13. Smith A, Yarwood J, Salisbury DM. Tracking mothers' attitudes to MMR immunisation 1996-2006. Vaccine. May 16 2007;25(20):3996-4002. [Medline].

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Further Reading

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Keywords

rubella, rubella virus, German measles, congenital rubella syndrome, three-day measles, 3-day measles, MMR vaccine, childhood immunization

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Pamela L Dyne, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine/Emergency Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
Pamela L Dyne, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American College of Emergency Physicians, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Peter Bloomfield, MD, MPH, Clinical Instructor, Olive View-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine; Director, Quality Assurance, Brotman Medical Center Emergency Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Medical Editor

Garry Wilkes, MBBS, FACEM, Director of Emergency Medicine, Bunbury Hospital, Western Australia; Medical Director, St John Ambulance, WA Ambulance Service; Adjunct Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University; Clinical Associate Professor, Rural Clinical School, University of Western Australia, Australia.
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Pharmacy Editor

Mary L Windle, PharmD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine
Disclosure: Pfizer Inc Stock Investment from financial planner; Avanir Pharma Stock Investment from financial planner ; WebMD Salary and stock Employment and investment from financial planner

Managing Editor

Grace M Young, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland Medical Center
Grace M Young, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Emergency Physicians
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

John D Halamka, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Chief Information Officer, CareGroup Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
John D Halamka, MD, MS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Informatics Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Richard G Bachur, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Associate Chief and Fellowship Director, Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital of Boston
Richard G Bachur, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Pediatrics, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and Society for Pediatric Research
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

 
 
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