Cases of rubella virus, better known as rubella, plummet worldwide. It shows a new report from the World Health Organization WHO. In 2012, there were 94,277 infected in the world. In 2020, there were only 10,194 cases. Although rubella is a childhood disease, it is actually most serious for pregnant women because there is a risk of malformations in the fetus. The risk is greatest if the pregnant woman becomes infected early in pregnancy, where the disease can lead to hearing loss, heart defects, cataracts and and mental retardation in the child. Beyond that, it can lead to unwanted abortion. The fall of almost 90 percent since 2012 is due to an increase in vaccinated. In 2012, 132 countries had the vaccine against rubella (RCV) in their vaccination program. That number rose to 173 in 2020, and it meant that as many as 70 percent of the world’s infants were vaccinated against rubella. There is no treatment if you are first infected, but RCV prevents children from infecting pregnant women, and that girls grow up without immunity and become infected later in life during a possible pregnancy.
An example of how wrong it can go, if the virus gets out of control, is the largest rubella epidemic in the United States, which took place in 1964 and 1965. Here, 12.5 million Americans became infected, and it ended up that 11,000 pregnant women lost their children. The virus has been eliminated in 93 of the WHO’s 194 member countries. Eliminated means that the disease is under control, but not completely eradicated.
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Cases of rubella are falling sharply worldwide
