Children usually develop few or no other symptoms. Adults can have mild fever, headache, reddened eyes, swollen glands behind the ears, tiredness, and joint pain. An infected person can spread the disease for as many as 5 days before the rash appears to 7 days after. Infectious children should not attend school or day care. In most cases, symptoms appear within 16 to 18 days.
Diagnosis is by blood test or virus culture.
Anyone can get rubella, but unvaccinated, school-aged children are most at risk. Rubella is not usually a serious disease in children, but it can be very serious if a pregnant woman becomes infected. CRS can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, and severe birth defects. The most common birth defects are blindness, deafness, heart damage, and mental retardation. There is no treatment for rubella.