Rubella is a viral infectious disease that manifests itself in a skin rash, swollen lymph nodes, and a slight increase in body temperature. Most rubella affects children aged 1 year to 7 years. After the disease goes away, lifelong immunity is formed.
In principle, rubella in adults, whose symptoms are similar to those in children, is a rather complicated disease . Usually children tolerate rubella are much easier than people of a more mature age.
It often happens that the symptoms of the disease in children are rather mild, in adults the opposite is true - the disease is complex and the symptoms are very intense. An interesting fact: a disease such as measles also runs much harder precisely in adults, while children practically do not notice it. If symptoms of rubella in a pregnant woman are noticed, this is a very alarming sign, because in this case rubella is even more dangerous.
Rubella in adults: symptoms
Signs of rubella in adults are as follows:
- Enlarged lymph nodes . Moreover, most of the sizes are added precisely by the cervical and occipital lymph nodes. This symptom is most pronounced at the end of the incubation period, that is, immediately before the rash appears. According to doctors, swollen lymph nodes are a pathognomonic symptom of rubella.
- The appearance of a rash on the whole body . Moreover, it is much smaller than the one that appears with measles. It has a pink color, does not merge into one, disappears a couple of days after the appearance, does not peel and does not pigment. The rash appears during the first day of the disease. It is localized in adults, usually in exactly the same way as in children: on the back, buttocks and flexion limbs of peripheral joints. Most often, the intensity of the rash in adults is much higher than in children.
- The appearance of headache, pain in the joints and muscles . Only rubella in adults has such manifestations, symptoms of this kind in children are extremely rare.
- Intoxication syndrome of moderate severity . That is, body temperature rises to about 38-39 degrees Celsius, malaise and general weakness appear. In children, everything is much easier: the temperature in quite rare cases rises above the mark of 37 degrees.
- Enanthema on the mucous membranes of the soft palate and cheeks . Belsky-Filatov-Koplik spots are not observed in this disease, unlike measles. This is considered another hallmark of measles and rubella symptoms.
- The general blood count changes : the number of leukocytes decreases, the number of lymphocytes and monocytes, on the contrary, increases. In addition, the number of plasma cells in the blood is growing.
- The mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract becomes inflamed . Rhinitis or pharyngitis appears. The conjunctiva becomes inflamed.
Summing up, we can say that rubella in adults is much more dangerous, the symptoms are much more pronounced. Before they started getting vaccinations from her, it was very rare to see a case of an adult's disease. Since they all had been ill since childhood or, in extreme cases, in adolescence.
After vaccination appeared, thanks to the emerging immunity, children began to get sick much less often. But a large number of patients appeared among adults, because post-vaccination immunity cannot last forever.
Therefore, a large number of scientists, and many parents, began to think about not to be vaccinated against rubella. And in general, there is a fraction of common sense: a disease in childhood is much easier, in addition, immunity is developed after it, which can be called lifelong. Another disadvantage of vaccination: after it, complications are quite common.