What is Rubella Virus

Rubella virus is a very common acute infectious disease. This disease is mostly caused by viral infection, and the incidence rate is relatively high in spring. Both children and adults can get the disease. Rubella virus is generally transmitted through contact. After the onset of the disease, symptoms such as fever, cough, and loss of appetite will appear. It has a great impact on human health. The following is a detailed introduction to what rubella virus is.

Rubella virus is an RNA virus that is limited to humans. It is mostly irregular spherical in shape. The antigenic structure of rubella virus is quite stable, and only one serotype is known. The rubella virus has very weak vitality outside the body and is as contagious as measles. It is usually transmitted through coughing, talking or sneezing.

According to the different modes of infection, it can be divided into two types: naturally infected rubella and congenital rubella:

1. Naturally infected rubella:

1) Prodromal phase: It is relatively short, about 1 to 2 days, and the symptoms are also relatively mild. The main symptoms include: low or moderate fever, headache, loss of appetite, fatigue, weakness, cough, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, conjunctival congestion and other mild upper respiratory tract inflammation; occasionally accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea, nose bleeding, swollen gums and other symptoms. Generally speaking, the prodromal symptoms in infants and young children are often mild or absent, while those in older children and adults are more pronounced and last for 5 to 6 days.

2) Rash stage: The rash usually appears 1 to 2 days after the fever. The rash first appears on the face and neck, and quickly spreads downward, covering the trunk and limbs within 1 day, but the palms and soles are mostly free of rash. The rash initially appears as fine, light red macules, maculopapules or papules. There is less rash on the face and distal limbs; the rash is dense on the trunk, especially the back, and merges into patches.

2. Congenital rubella:

It means that a pregnant woman suffers from rubella in the early stage of pregnancy, and then the rubella virus infects the fetus through the placenta. After the fetus is infected, severe cases can lead to stillbirth, miscarriage, premature birth, and mild cases can cause fetal growth retardation. The birth weight, height, head circumference, chest circumference, etc. are all lower than those of normal newborns. This difference often cannot be corrected until the age of 1.

Children with severe congenital infection will develop thrombocytopenic purpura, with purple-red spots of varying sizes at birth; the main symptoms include: liver enlargement, hepatitis, hemolytic anemia, cerebrospinal fluid cell increase, etc.; they may also be accompanied by low weight, congenital heart disease, cataracts, deafness and microcephaly, etc.; they may also have heart malformations and cardiovascular malformations, the most common of which is patent ductus arteriosus. Most infants do not have severe cardiovascular symptoms at birth; but some may develop heart failure within the first month after birth; there may also be symptoms such as unilateral or bilateral deafness and hearing loss.

It can be seen that the harm of rubella virus is quite serious, especially for pregnant women. Congenital rubella has a serious impact on the future life of the fetus.