The Oklahoma State Department of Health announced today that two cases of rubella, also known as German Measles, have been reported in Roland in Sequoyah County in eastern Oklahoma. Ark. Health officials are concerned that this contagious disease could spread among those who have not been adequately immunized against rubella. If a woman gets rubella in the early months of her pregnancy, her chance of giving birth to a baby with birth defects may be as high as 80 percent. These babies may be born deaf, or with eye or heart defects, and many may be mentally retarded.
Miscarriages are also common among women who get rubella while they are pregnant.
Rubella is a re-emerging infection. The last big rubella outbreak in the United States was in 1964, with an estimated 12.5 million cases and approximately 20,000 babies were born with severe birth defects. A record low of 128 cases was reported in 1995. In 1997, rubella re-emerged with an outbreak in North Carolina, primarily among persons born outside the 50 states. As many as 12 million women of childbearing age remain susceptible to the disease.