I am 10 weeks pregnant. I got my prenatal blood tests done a few weeks ago and found out I have low/no immunity to rubella immunization. I had no idea about this before I got pregnant and I can’t get this vaccine now since I’m pregnant. [name_f]My[/name_f] doctor didn’t seem too concerned. I am a little worried though b/c there are those people that don’t get vaccinated and you hear of the occasional measles going around (not necessarily german measles, I’m not sure but maybe it is more rare?) b/c if I contracted that while pregnant it can lead to fetal deformities. Has anyone experienced this or know if german measles is something that occurs very often in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] or the US? Thanks!
It’s not common, and I haven’t heard of any big outbreaks recently. I wouldn’t worry too much, obviously don’t go hanging around someone who has rubella, but I think it’s unlikely you’d just catch it at the store or something. Practice regular hygiene and I think you’ll be fine!
You will probably be OK. There have been more cases of [name_m]German[/name_m] Measles & Rubella in the last couple years thanks to that idiot [name_f]Jenny[/name_f] [name_u]Mccarthy[/name_u] convincing people vaccines are harmful. It is not common, usually if there’s an outbreak (of [name_m]German[/name_m] Measles anyway, not sure about Rubella) in your area it will probably be in the news. It’s usually older people & young children that catch that sort of thing. They are very real though & I would definitely advise EVERYONE to immunize their children & make sure your own vaccines are up to date (obviously not if you can’t cause you’re pregnant).
If you spend time with seniors or young children just be sure to be careful about your hygiene. If there happens to be an outbreak in your area, stay home.
You can read up about them online, I think they’re mostly only really harmful during early pregnancy.
According to the CDC, there were 189 reported cases of Measles in the US in 2013 (more than any year since 1996.) Most cases were imported by travelers, and there was an outbreak in a non-vaccinating religious community in [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u].
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t panic though. 189 is still a pretty small number.
I had [name_m]German[/name_m] Measles in 1992 when I was about six months old. We were a military family though, so lots of people who travel internationally were always around. I’ve never heard of anyone else getting it, though I’m sure it happens.
I would think that a person with measles or rubella would be unlikely to be out in public. I would take the usual precautions with washing your hands and so forth, but don’t be stressed out about it.
I don’t know if this is comforting, but my mom actually had measles when she was pregnant with me (this was back in 1979.) Anyhow, she ignored the doctor’s advice to terminate the pregnancy and I was born perfectly healthy, no deformities.
[name_f]My[/name_f] [name_m]Friend[/name_m] sent me this the other day because the kids in my oldest preschool class are not up to date on shoots if they had any at all
I think many prior posters are confusing measles with rubella, which is also called the [name_m]German[/name_m] Measles.
As herd immunity is falling there is absolutely reason to have increased concern about being exposed to an active case. If sick people stayed home, that would be wonderful-- but the contagious period begins a week before symptoms start to manifest themselves, and people are rarely that altruistic.
Luckily, rubella itself has been completely eliminated in the US in terms of native transmission. Multiple cases are imported into the US each year, usually from regions of the world which immunize against measles & mumps but not rubella. That is where our caseload of congenital rubella syndrome come from as well (again this is quite small-- usually 5-10 cases a year). It is very serious-- affected babies are often deaf, blind, and have serious-to-lethal congenital heart defects-- so you are right to be concerned.
From the CDC: “The last major epidemic in the United States occurred during 1964-1965, when there was an estimated 12.5 million rubella cases in the United States, resulting in 2,000 cases of encephalitis, 11,250 therapeutic or spontaneous abortions, 2,100 neonatal deaths, and 20,000 infants born with Congenital Rubella Syndrome.”
Since you can’t be immunized, you have to just play the odds that you won’t encounter a case-- and the odds are very, very good that you’ll be fine! However once you deliver I would recommend being immunized for it.
Could a fetus only be exposed to it if the pregnant mother gets rubella? Is it only unsafe during the first trimester or the entire pregnancy? Thanks for the info.
[name_m]How[/name_m] can you be sure that the doctor is right in saying that you have low immunity? I was worried with my first when I heard that a work collegue of my husbands had contracted german measles (rubella) but the doctor told me that by my age (28) that I would have gained plenty of natural immunity. I didn’t get sick but it was a comfort to hear the doctor I would have had enough natural immunity and possibly you do too.
rollo
PS I am an Aussie in Australia
I would assume (though I could be wrong) that OP had titres drawn, and that’s how the doctor knows her immunity level.
You can’t gain natural immunity to something that has been all but wiped out in [name_u]North[/name_u] [name_u]America[/name_u], since your chance of running into a person carrying rubella and contacting a sufficent amount of virus is slim to none.
I know in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] there was a huge stretch of time where kids were only given one MMR shot, and it is now being recommended everyon whose only had one get a booster.
Oh it never occurred to me that the disease was almost wiped out in [name_u]North[/name_u] [name_u]America[/name_u].
The main window in which you need to be very concerned is in the first trimester of pregnancy, when the main organ systems are forming. The mother has to be infected to expose the fetus, but she could have a sublcinical infection and not really know she has rubella itself. As long as the virus is circulating around, it crosses the placenta and infects the baby.
But as we said, endemic transmission in the US has been eliminated, and even in the anti-vaccination panic we still haven’t seen any cases. Since a handful of cases are imported every year, though, and since herd immunity is dangerously declining, we fear it might not be far behind measles in reestablishing itself.