Rubella in children. Symptoms and Prevention

To this infection all are susceptible who are not vaccinated and did not suffer from it. It is especially dangerous for pregnant women. The virus can be transmitted from the mother to the fetus, causing developmental disorders. Rubella in children, the symptoms of which are noticed in time, should be a warning for pregnant women. It is impossible for them to contact this infection.

The causative agent of the disease is a filtering virus. It is known that it is unstable in the external environment and very volatile. Infection occurs through the mucosa of the respiratory tract from the patient, who is contagious a few days before the rash appears. The virus is transmitted by talking, coughing, through toys. With the extinction of the rash, the patient becomes non-contagious. It is isolated for up to a week. Quarantine for this infection is not superimposed. There are no repeated cases of the disease.

Symptoms of the disease

From infection to the onset of the disease can go from 11 to 22 days, an average of 15. Let's examine how rubella manifests in children from the very beginning of the disease. First there is a short period of precursors of the disease. They are represented by mild catarrhal phenomena: pain and redness in the throat, nasal congestion.

Then the baby has swollen lymph nodes in the occipital region. This is a very characteristic symptom. The posterior lymph nodes can also be enlarged . With a disease like rubella in children, the symptoms grow gradually. Other lymph nodes may increase. The temperature rises, but it rarely exceeds 38 degrees. Sometimes it is only slightly elevated or normal. Since the signs of the disease are not very pronounced, parents sometimes look at the onset of the disease.

On day 3-4 of the disease on the face and neck there is a small spotted-papular pink rash. It is a bit like a rash in measles. Very quickly the rash begins to spread downwards: on the chest and back, buttocks and extensor surface of hands and feet. For several hours she covers all the skin. Elements of it do not merge. The size of them is from the pinhead and a little more. Sometimes rubella in children, its symptoms, resemble measles. But with measles, the rash is poured in stages, for several days, beginning with the face and ending with the limbs. For rubella, the rapid spread of a characteristic rash, which encompasses all parts of the body, is characteristic.

On the mucous throat may also be a rash in the form of red spots - enanthema.

Treatment and prevention

The disease usually flows easily. Complications in the form of synovitis, otitis, angina may be in people with reduced immunity. With an infection such as rubella, in children the treatment is only symptomatic. In case of high fever, antipyretic drugs are given, antihistamines, vitamins are prescribed. The child is recommended to drink abundantly, to limit moving games.

The danger of the disease is that when a pregnant woman is ill, the virus is often transmitted to the fetus. This is called the vertical transmission mode. Fetal infection of the rubella virus gives a high probability of congenital malformations. A child who has been infected in utero with this infection continues to isolate her pathogen within 20 months after birth and is himself the source of the disease.

In order to defeat the infection, the children are vaccinated against it in a planned manner. It is carried out in two stages. And the first inoculation is done at the age of 1 year - a year and three months, together with an inoculation from mumps and measles. Then, at the age of 6, they make a revaccination. Knowing how dangerous rubella is in children, the symptoms of this disease, it is necessary to protect pregnant women from contact with patients.

Timely vaccinations will protect your child from the disease by this insidious and dangerous infection. Do not neglect them. Good health to you and your children!