Clinical Information

The most serious manifestation of acute rubella infection is congenital rubella syndrome because of infection during pregnancy, particularly during the first trimester. To prevent congenital rubella syndrome, the screening and immunization of susceptible women of childbearing age is essential.

The detection of IgG antibodies to rubella virus is indicative of previous infection and presumptive immunity; therefore, screening by serological methods will establish the immune status of individuals regarding their resistance or susceptibility to rubella infection. The usual means of diagnosis of active or recent rubella infection is also serological. This can be accomplished either by the demonstration of a four-fold or greater rise in virus-specific IgG antibody in acute/convalescent serum pairs, or by the detection of virus-specific IgM antibody in a single, early serum specimen. The traditional serologic test for evaluating rubella antibody, hemagglutinationinhibition, has been replaced by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).