Pathological Manifestations in an Infant after Maternal Rubella in the Sixteenth Week of Gestation

Abstract

GREGG'S¹ observation that rubella in the mother during early pregnancy frequently leads to congenital cataract of the unborn child has been confirmed by numerous investigators.2–⁴ The effects of the maternal infection on the conceptus vary within a broad range of possibilities: the fetus may escape injury, die or have various combinations of defects as late manifestations — arrested or distorted development of the eyes with anomalies of the teeth, middle ear and heart.² Rubella is most likely to cause cataract (usually nuclear) when the infection occurs at the fourth to the sixth week of gestation.^{2, 5} The observation is consistent with . . .