How Rubella Spreads And What Are The Prevention Methods?

Rubella share few symptoms of measles, but both are different health conditions caused by different types of virus.

Rubella, commonly known as German measles or 3-day measles, is highly infectious viral illness that can be easily passed from infectious person. However, it is less contagious than measles or chicken pox.

But if a pregnant woman contracts with this viral infection, infectious virus possibly causes various birth defects or even death to developing fetus.

It is generally a mild disease that mainly targets children aged between 6 to 9 years of age. Even, non-immunized adults are at increased risk to get this particular viral infection. It has been estimated that almost 10% of young adults are currently susceptible to get rubella.

Contagiousness of rubella!

The virus responsible for rubella passes from one individual to other through tiny droplets of fluid from throat and nose of an infected person.

When your kid or you are infected with this specific viral infection, you or your child becomes contagious from 1 week before and 1 week after the symptoms of infection disappear.

Particularly, if a pregnant woman gets the infection, the unborn baby is at high risk of developing congenital rubella syndrome. So, it is very essential for you to take necessary precautions to avoid these kinds of infections to your baby and also to you.

Vaccination plays a crucial role!

Rubella can be easily prevented if you take necessary vaccinations at right time. Extensive immunization against this particular viral infection plays a crucial role in controlling the spread of the disease.

Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the birth defects caused due to congenital rubella syndrome.

For children, the vaccine is usually given at 12-15 months of age along with the scheduled measles immunization. As a second dose, it is generally given at 4-6 years of age.

However, there are certain important measures that you have to consider while taking vaccinations. So, know more about all those considerations from your doctor before taking vaccinations.

Always remember, it is highly difficult to treat rubella with antibiotics and mostly antibiotics don’t work well in the treatment of viral infections. Until and unless there are complications in rubella, the viral infection will resolve on its own.

However, it is always recommended to provide necessary vaccinations for your kids and also you should get regular immunizations to avoid several viral infections in your healthy life.