Rubella - Causes and Signs of Rubella

Today, specialists distinguish the following types of the disease:

• typical rubella - the course of the disease occurs in accordance with the main stages and symptoms;
• atypical rubella - symptoms are absent or blurred, can occur with isolated exanthema syndrome or lymphadenopathy.

In addition, rubella is distinguished depending on the routes of infection:

• congenital rubella - the disease is transmitted to the fetus in the womb of the mother who had rubella during pregnancy. This is fraught with the formation of various pathologies and congenital malformations in the child;
• acquired rubella - infection occurs by airborne droplets.

Rubella can be mild, moderate or severe in severity.

Causes

The main causes of infection include:

• failure to vaccinate;
• contact with an infected person – since rubella is an airborne infectious disease, any contact with the patient leads to infection. The disease becomes active (when a person becomes contagious to others) 2-3 days before the first symptoms appear and during the first 7 days of the disease. The incubation period lasts from 10 to 25 days.

Symptoms

Typical symptoms of rubella are:

• the appearance of a specific rash on the skin. It appears on the 1-2 day, first on the face, then, within a short period of time, spreads to the rest of the body.
• The rash predominates on the face, folds of the limbs, buttocks and lower back;
• the rash disappears within 2-7 days without residual marks on the skin;
• general malaise;
• cough;
• possible sore throat;
• manifestation of moderate inflammatory processes;
• increased temperature (37.5 - 38 degrees);
• moderate fever is possible;
• moderate intoxication of the body;
• headache;
• dizziness is possible;
• enlarged lymph nodes (parotid, occipital, cervical);
• joint pain (in adults);
• sometimes - development of conjunctivitis or pharyngitis.

In adults, unlike children, these symptoms are more pronounced and the disease itself is more acute.

With congenital rubella, a child exhibits the so-called Gregg triad:

• heart defects (pulmonary artery stenosis, abnormalities in the formation of valves or cardiac septa, patent ductus arteriosus, etc.);
• eye lesions (unilateral or bilateral clouding of the lens, glaucoma, myopia, corneal clouding, etc.);
• deafness.

In addition to the main manifestations of rubella, a number of other developmental defects may be observed: non-closure of the hard and soft palate, hypertrophied fontanelle, hormonal disorders, microcephaly, hemolytic anemia, etc.

Especially The dangerous period for rubella infection is the 1st to 3rd trimester, when the genesis of the child's organs occurs. The rubella virus has the ability to freely penetrate the placental barrier, as a result of which it can easily inhibit the process of cell division in the embryo during the formation of the child's organs and systems. When infected with rubella before the 16th week of pregnancy, in most cases a spontaneous miscarriage occurs.

Diagnostics

If characteristic symptoms of rubella appear, you must make an appointment with a doctor - pediatrician or therapist, to establish an accurate diagnosis.

Rubella is diagnosed by the following methods:

• establishing signs of specific symptoms during direct examination;
• general blood test;
• serological analysis;
• virological diagnostics (bacterial culture of mucus from the patient's nose);
• enzyme immunoassay.

Treatment

At the moment, no specific treatment measures have been developed. Therefore, the consultation of an infectious disease specialist treating the patient comes to the fore here.

As a rule, the main emphasis is placed on treating the symptoms that have arisen and eliminating the possibility of complications:

• plenty of fluids and a balanced diet;
• bed rest;
• taking immunostimulating, variocidal, immunomodulatory medications (etiotropic therapy);
• taking medications that eliminate other symptoms (analgesics, antipyretics, expectorants, etc.).

Despite the fact that rubella is generally considered a harmless disease (except for cases of infection in pregnant women), it can still cause the following complications: encephalitis, arthritis, pneumonia, otitis, meningoencephalitis, exacerbation chronic diseases.

Congenital rubella is not treatable.

Prevention

The main preventive criteria include:

• routine vaccination;
• quarantine of the patient during the open stage of the disease (at least 5-7 days from the appearance of the rash);
• as an option to counteract the mechanism of spread of the virus - ventilation and wet cleaning of the room where the patient is located.