Rubella: The Past, Present, and Future

Author

Mary Kathleen Kinnally, Fontbonne College

Year of Award

1970

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

College

College of Education & Allied Health

Department

Communication Disorders and Deaf Education

Keywords

measles, vaccine, retardation, pregnancy, defects, epidemic, handicap

Abstract

Rubella, a common virus disease, is a mild infection of children and young adults. Often a slight headache, fever, muscular pain, and swelling of the glands precede a light pink rash, cough, and nasal congestion. It is less contagious than ailments such as rubeola and chickenpox but yet still relatively easy to contract. Rubella appears in five to seven year cycles, usually in the spring. At these times, incidences of the disease can and do reach epidemic-sized proportions. Although infection with the disease confers lasting immunity, about one in every five people reaches adulthood without ever contracting it. Therefore, a large percentage (20%) of women of child-bearing age are not immune. This is where the danger of rubella is seen. There might be very little effect on a nine or ten year old child. "But to an unborn child, the usually mild rubella virus can be vicious: babies born to mothers infected during the first month of pregnancy stand a 50 per cent chance of congenital heart defects, cataracts, deafness, or mental retardation."

Comments

Original copy bound in Deaf Education Theses 1970. Manuscript 7 of 8.

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Recommended Citation

Kinnally, Mary Kathleen, "Rubella: The Past, Present, and Future" (1970). All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects. 143.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/all-etds/143