Rubella is an infectious disease caused by the rubella virus. It spreads through coughing and sneezing. It does not usually make you very ill. If you get rubella during pregnancy, there is a risk that your child will be born blind, deaf and/or developmentally delayed. Rubella during pregnancy can also cause a miscarriage.
Factsheet on rubella
How the virus is spread | From coughing or sneezing |
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Common symptoms | Tiredness, nasal cold, cough, sore throat, irritated eyes, mild fever, skin rash |
Serious symptoms | Rubella is dangerous to unborn children |
Which vaccinations protect against this disease? | MMR vaccination |
If you are infected with the virus that causes rubella, you usually have some general symptoms. You will be tired, have a nasal cold and may develop a slight fever. Later on, you could get a rash, usually behind the ears and on the face and neck. You may also have a sore throat, cough and irritated eyes. Very occasionally, people become more seriously ill due to platelet deficiency. They may also develop meningitis or joint inflammation.
If the mother gets rubella during pregnancy, the child may be born deaf or blind, or have developmental delays. Rubella during pregnancy also increases the risk of miscarriage.
If you have rubella and you sneeze or cough, tiny droplets containing the virus are expelled into the air. If other people inhale the droplets, they could become infected. The virus can also be transmitted via contact with hands, toys, doorknobs and other surfaces. If you are infected with the rubella virus, you can infect another person as early as a week before you become ill. It may take as long as 2 to 3 weeks after exposure before you become ill.
Vaccination can protect you against rubella. Read more about vaccination against rubella, or read how vaccination works.
There are no medicines to treat rubella. The illness goes away on its own. Your body clears the virus without help. Once you have had rubella, you can never get it again. If your symptoms are more severe, it is advisable to contact your GP.
Rubella was a common childhood disease in the Netherlands before it was included in the National Immunisation Programme. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were still thousands of reported cases of rubella per year. After vaccination against rubella was introduced in 1987, there have only been a few cases a year in the Netherlands, mainly among unvaccinated children.
There are still occasional outbreaks among population groups that do not get vaccinated. The rubella epidemic in 2004/2005 was mainly among unvaccinated, Orthodox Protestant schoolchildren. During this outbreak, 32 pregnant women were infected with rubella. This led to 2 miscarriages and 11 children with birth defects. In 2013, there was a minor outbreak of rubella involving 54 reported cases, involving a conservative Protestant school.