Rubella: Studies on the Natural Disease

Abstract

EVER since the work of Gregg in 1941,¹ physicians have become aware of the teratogenic effects of rubella contracted during the first trimester of pregnancy. Thus, an illness which previously had been considered a mild disease of childhood and adolescence became to be regarded as a serious problem. The availability of a method to determine immunity and an estimation of the risk of contracting rubella after exposure would be of great aid to physicians caring for the early pregnant woman when rubella is in the community. Recently, techniques have been developed which have made it possible to detect rubella virus and measure neutralizing antibody.^2,3 Studies on experimental rubella have shown that human volunteers with preexisting neutralizing antibody were protected from subsequent viral challenge.⁴ The occurrence of a city-wide rubella epidemic in Cincinnati and an outbreak among personnel in the Children's Hospital outpatient clinic during the spring of