Rubella vaccine

Rubella, or German measles as it is sometimes known, is a viral infection which, if contracted by a pregnant woman, can cause severe abnormalities in her unborn baby.

These problems include learning disability, cataracts, deafness and heart problems.

Before the introduction of immunisation against rubella, as many as 70 babies were born every year with symptoms of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and it is estimated that a further 700 pregnancies, where mothers had been exposed to the virus, would have been terminated.

Today, it is extremely rare for babies to be born with CRS in the UK.

Action Medical Research's involvement with rubella research dates right back to the early years of the Charity, when tests were done by Dr Kevin McCarthy and his team to screen different strains of the virus and identify how dangerous each was.

Throughout the late 1960s and early 70s, Dr McCarthy and Dr Alistair Dudgeon, based at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, continued working towards a vaccine which contained a live, damaged, rubella virus.

Dr Dudgeon's work was able to show that the vaccine virus did not pass from person to person, gave long-lasting immunity and was safe.

From 1970 the vaccine was offered to girls around puberty, with good success rates where taken up. With the introduction of the MMR vaccine (of which the rubella vaccine is a component) in 1988, the UK had a vaccination programme that could protect everyone from rubella.