Rare complications include myocarditis, glaucoma, microcephaly, chronic progressive panencephalitis, hepatitis, anemia, cryptorchidism, kidney disease, hypogammaglobulinemia, and thyroid abnormalities. Transmission after 20 weeks gestation results in no abnormalities. 13 Preventive measures after exposure during pregnancy Routine use of immune globulin is not recommended in early pregnancy. Use of rubella vaccine is still not recommended for pregnant women. Breastfeeding is not contraindicated, although the virus can be excreted in breast milk and transferred to a nursing infant.
Few reports address the outcome of pregnancies complicated by accidental vaccination.
Between January 1971 and April 1989, the CDC followed 321 pregnant women vaccinated with live rubella vaccine 3 months before or after conception. 6 None of 324 babies had malformations compatible with CRS, although five had serologic evidence of infection. Tookey et al 14 reported on 92 pregnancies complicated by vaccination. There were 87 live births, three stillbirths, and two spontaneous abortions. One infant with serologic evidence of rubella infection was healthy and normal at 2.5 years old.