Mumps can cause deafness in some children. Mumps can cause very painful, swollen testicles in about 1 out of 4 teenage boys or adult men. This may rarely cause sterility. Mumps can cause a painful infection of the ovaries in 1 out of 20 women. People can get mumps from an infected person coughing or sneezing around them or simply talking to them.
Rubella is very dangerous in pregnant women.
If a woman gets rubella in the early part of a pregnancy, it is very likely that her baby will die or be severely handicapped. The most common handicaps are blindness, deafness, mental retardation and heart defects. Rubella is usually a mild illness in children, but can be more severe in older children and adults especially women. Rubella may cause fever, sore throat, swollen glands in the neck and a rash on the face and neck. As many as three in five teenage girls and women with rubella get aches and pains and swelling of the joints.