Rubella was first described in the mid-eighteenth century. [[Friedrich Hoffmann]] made the first clinical description of rubella in 1740,<ref name=Ackerknecht1982>{{cite book |author=Ackerknecht, Erwin Heinz |title=A short history of medicine |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=1982 |pages=129 |isbn=0-8018-2726-4}}</ref> which was confirmed by de Bergen in 1752 and Orlow in 1758.<ref name="pmid18109609">{{cite journal
|author=Wesselhoeft C
|title=Rubella and congenital deformities
|journal=N. Engl. J. Med.
|volume=240
|issue=7
|pages=258–61
|year=1949
|pmid=18109609
|doi=
}}</ref>
In 1814, George de Maton first suggested that it be considered a disease distinct from both measles and scarlet fever. All these physicians were German, and the disease was known as Rötheln (from the German name ''Röteln''), hence the common name of "German measles". <ref>Best, J.M., Cooray, S., Banatvala J.E. '''Rubella''' in ''Topley and Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections'', Vol. 2, Virology, Chapter 45, p.960-92, ISBN 0 340 88562 9, 2005 </ref> Henry Veale, an English Royal Artillery surgeon, described an outbreak in India. He coined the name "rubella" (from the Latin, meaning "little red") in 1866.<ref name=Ackerknecht1982/><ref name=Lee2000>{{cite journal |author=Lee JY, Bowden DS |title=Rubella virus replication and links to teratogenicity |journal=Clin. Microbiol. Rev. |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=571-87 |year=2000 |pmid=11023958 |url=http://cmr.asm.org/cgi/content/full/13/4/571}}</ref><ref name=cdc>{{cite book
It was formally recognised as an individual entity in 1881, at the International Congress of Medicine in London.<ref>Smith, J. L. Contributions to the study of Rötheln. Trans. Int. Med. Congr. Phil. '''4''',14. 1881</ref> In 1914, Alfred Fabian Hess theorised that rubella was caused by a virus, based on work with monkeys.<ref name=whonamedit>{{cite journal
| first = Alfred Fabian
| last = Hess
| year = 1914
| title = German measles (rubella): an experimental study
}}</ref> In 1938, Hiro and Tosaka confirmed this by passing the disease to children using filtered nasal washings from acute cases.<ref name=cdc/>
In 1940, there was a widespread epidemic of rubella in Australia. Subsequently, ophthalmologist Norman McAllister Gregg found 78 cases of congenital cataracts in infants and 68 of them were born to mothers who had caught rubella in early pregnancy.<ref name=Lee2000/><ref name=cdc/> Gregg published an account, ''Congenital Cataract Following German Measles in the Mother'', in 1941. He described a variety of problems now know as [[congenital rubella syndrome]] (CRS) and noticed that the earlier the mother was infected, the worse the damage was. The virus was isolated in tissue culture in 1962 by two separate groups led by physicians Parkman and Weller.<ref name=MoHNZ/><ref name=Lee2000/>
There was a pandemic of rubella between 1962 and 1965, starting in Europe and spreading to the United States.<ref name=MoHNZ/> In the years 1964-65, the United States had an estimated 12.5 million rubella cases. This led to 11,000 miscarriages or therapeutic abortions and 20,000 cases of congenital rubella syndrome. Of these, 2,100 died as neonates, 12,000 were deaf, 3,580 were blind and 1,800 were mentally retarded. In New York alone, CRS affected 1% of all births <ref> J.B. Hanshaw, J.A. Dudgeon, and W.C. Marshall. Viral diseases of the fetus and newborn. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1985 </ref>
In 1969 a live attenuated virus vaccine was licensed.<ref name=cdc/> In the early 1970s, a triple vaccine containing attenuated measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) viruses was introduced.<ref name=MoHNZ/>
Rubella is a disease that occurs worldwide. The virus tends to peak during the spring in countries with temperate climates. Before the vaccine to rubella was introduced in 1969, widespread outbreaks usually occurred every 6-9 years in the United States and 3-5 years in Europe, mostly affecting children in the 5-9 year old age group.[1] Since the introduction of vaccine, occurrences have become rare in those countries with high uptake rates. However, in the UK there remains a large population of men susceptible to rubella who have not been vaccinated. Outbreaks of rubella occurred amongst many young men in the UK in 1993 and in 1996 the infection was transmitted to pregnant women, many of whom were immigrants and were susceptible. Outbreaks still arise, usually in developing countries where the vaccine is not as accessible.[2]
During the epidemic in the US between 1962-1965, Rubella virus infections during pregnancy were estimated to have caused 30,000 still births and 20,000 children to be born impaired or disabled as a result of CRS.[3][4]
Universal immunisation producing a high level of herd immunity is important in the control of epidemics of rubella.[5]
↑Cooper,L.Z. Congenital Rubella in the United States. 1975 In: Krugman,S Gershon,A (eds), Symposium on Infections Of the Fetus and Newborn Infant. New York, Alan R. Liss Inc.,p.1.
