Place of Maternal Rubella in the Aetiology of Congenital Heart Disease

Rubella in the Newborn

“…Liggins and Phillips (1963) conducted a prospective survey of maternal rubella in New Zealand. Campbell (1961) and Skinner (1961) have reviewed the problem in detail.…”

Background of the prevention of cardiovascular disease. I. Nutritional, infectious, and alcoholic heart disease.

“…That year, it is stated that 4% of pregnancies were complicated by rubella, associated with 6,250 fetal deaths, 5,000 therapeutic abortions, 2, 100 neonatal deaths, and the birth of more than 20,000 children with the congenital rubella syndrome.64 A recent (1982) report from Great Britain of 407 women who contracted rubella during pregnancy and who did not have the pregnancy interrupted found that congenital defects were present in 80% of the infants whose mothers exhibited rubella during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.65 The general experience has been that the most common congenital defect has been deafness, then congenital heart disease (especially patent ductus arteriosus and ventricular septal defect), and then cataracts. 66 The current situation is greatly improved. Rubella is no longer dismissed as an unimportant disease.…”

Complete agenesis of the lung

“…(c) Viral infection following rubella in pregnancy (Campbell, 1961, Butler, et al, 1965Forrester, Lees & Watson, 1966 …”