ABSTRACT
Rubella (German measles) is usually a very mild disease which often has no symptoms. It has few serious complications,68 but the disease became the subject of medical interest in 1940 when it was realised that its contraction during pregnancy could cause congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which involves numerous birth defects. In Britain, women and teenage girls were able to receive a 97-98% effective single vaccine from 1970, and 97-98% of this population had been vaccinated by 1987. In order to eliminate CRS, the vaccine was included in the mass-administered MMR from 1988.69 There are now usually fewer than 10 annual cases of CRS in Britain, mainly amongst mothers born elsewhere.
