Medicine: Catch German Measles

To the children and adults who catch it, German measles (rubella) is almost invariably a trivial infection with slight fever, sore throat and fast-disappearing rash. But contracted by a woman during pregnancy, especially in the first three months, rubella is often hideously deforming or fatal to her unborn child.

This was first established in 1941 by an Australian ophthalmologist, Norman McAlister Gregg, who found that many of his infant patients with cataracts and other defects were born a few months after their mothers had German measles. The question remained just how frequently the disease causes such damage. Now Harvard University’s Dr. Theodore H. Ingalls has an answer, based on detailed checkups of what happened to the fetus in 147 Massachusetts cases of rubella in the first three months of pregnancy. The statistical result: almost 15% stillbirths, an equal number with severe deformity or crippling.

To illustrate the full meaning of these statistics, Dr. Ingalls submitted a picture of a boy whose mother had German measles during pregnancy. The boy was “fortunate,” said Dr. Ingalls, to have escaped “the worst possible consequences.” His poor vision has been largely corrected by glasses; his malformed jaw is being straightened by braces (though he will always have tooth defects) ; he has a hearing aid to overcome deafness; and the scrambling of his most vital blood vessels has been fixed by a “blue-baby” operation.

Some doctors have urged therapeutic abortion when expectant mothers contract German measles. Dr. Ingalls had a more positive suggestion: let the virologists, who have worked such wonders with other viruses (e.g., polio), redouble their efforts to isolate the German-measles virus; then the disease could be given by needle to all girls—one attack means lasting immunity. Meanwhile, if any girl has friends or family with German measles, try to make sure that she catches it.