rubella

[user1455661447]

Hi I'm really worried as I've just discovered my friends baby has rubella and I spent a day playing with her last weekend. I'm 13 weeks pregnant and have just found out I wasn't immunised as a baby as I had health issues at the time. I seem to remember having an MMR jab at school around 1994 when I was 11 or 12, but there is no record of this. Does anyone remember having it in their early teens? I'm so worried about my unborn baby but don't want to blow things out of proportion as obviously I may not even have been infected. Girl

Have you had your booking in bloods taken yet?

Your immunity to rubella (German measles) is one of the things they test for.

I'd recommend calling your midwife to confirm your results and if you need to take any further action.

I had a rubella vaccination around the same time you say. And yes, the bloods taken at booking in should have checked your immunity to it anyway.

Is the baby confirmed to have rubella? Only ask because thanks to MMR the number of cases in the UK each year is very small indeed.

Definitely contact your midwife or GP, whoever you can get hold of - they should be able to check the results from your booking bloods and tell you whether or not you are immune.

I've just checked and there was a big campaign around 1994 to immunise as many schoolchildren as possible with measles-rubella vaccine (not enough mumps available). So that may well be what you remember having. The blood test results will tell you.

Best of luck

Rubella screening is stopping in pregnancy so you may not be routinely screened.
Keep an eye out for symptoms, it would be very unusual and rare to contract it when pregnant.

My mistake Mummyme. Just looked that up and it finished on 1st April 2016 so depending when you booked you might have just snuck in there. But the reason for stopping was that the number of rubella cases in the UK is so small that screening for susceptibility isn't warranted.

If they didn't check your booking bloods they may well have them stored and be able to check though. Or do a fresh blood test.

I had my booking in appointment today, and the midwife said that they don't test for rubella in pregnant women any more (although I tested as immune in my last two pregnancies, so I guess there's a good chance I'm still immune).

She said the advice now is to go see your GP if you get any rashes while you're pregnant. Given your contact with a rubella case, I'd contact your GP. They may have your vaccination records, or be able to check your immunity.

I had a single rubella jab at school at a similar age / time, there was some kind of catch up program for those who were too old to have had the MMR.

Given your exposure, I think your GP should check immunity if you ask, if it wasn't done at booking in.

Can anyone explain why they have stopped testing for rubella immunity?

Because it can wanes over time, and they it lasts for say 30 years, and longer in some.

So if you had it age 11ish up until some time in the 1990s, you would reasonably expect to be covered for all your childbearing years.

But if you had it on MMR schedule (13 months and 3/4 years) then in you early mid - 30s there is a not unreasonable chance that levels have waned enough to leave you essentially unprotected. And those are still definitely child-bearing years.

This sounds all wrong.

According to the NHS website:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/screening-blood-test-infectious-diseases-pregnant.aspx

They're not doing rubella testing anymore because rubella is now very rare in the UK thanks to the MMR vaccine.