Symptoms of Rubella
Rubella Fact Sheet (PDF
18 KB)
- Children with rubella usually first break out in a rash, which starts
on the face and progresses down the body.
- Older children and adults usually first suffer from low-grade fever,
swollen glands in the neck or behind the ears, and upper respiratory
infection before they develop a rash.
- Adult women often develop pain and stiffness in their fingers, wrists,
and knee joints, which may last up to a month.
- Up to half of people infected with rubella virus have no symptoms at
all.
The incubation period varies from 12 to 23 days.
The most serious complication of rubella infection is congenital rubella
syndrome (CRS), the result when the rubella virus attacks a developing
fetus.
Up to 85% of infants infected with CRS during the first trimester of pregnancy
will be born with some type of birth defect, including deafness, eye
defects, heart defects, mental retardation, and more. Infection early in the
pregnancy (less than 12 weeks gestation) is the most dangerous; defects are
rare when infection occurs after 20 weeks gestation.
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