Editing Rubella (section)

==History==
{{see also|Eradication of infectious diseases#Rubella}}
Rubella was first described in the mid-eighteenth century. German physician and chemist, [[Friedrich Hoffmann]], made the first clinical description of rubella in 1740,<ref name=Ackerknecht1982>{{cite book |last=Ackerknecht |first=Erwin Heinz |title=A short history of medicine |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=1982 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofme00acke/page/129 129] |isbn=978-0-8018-2726-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofme00acke/page/129 }}</ref> which was confirmed by de Bergen in 1752 and Orlow in 1758.<ref name="pmid18109609">{{cite journal|author=Wesselhoeft C|title=Rubella and congenital deformities|journal=N. Engl. J. Med.|volume=240|issue=7|pages=258–61|year=1949|pmid=18109609|doi=10.1056/NEJM194902172400706}}</ref>

In 1814, George de Maton first suggested that it be considered a disease distinct from both measles and [[scarlet fever]]. All these physicians were German, and the disease was known as Rötheln (contemporary German ''Röteln''). (''Rötlich'' means "reddish" or "pink" in German.) The fact that three Germans described it led to the common name of "German measles."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Best |first1=J.M. |last2=Cooray |first2=S. |last3=Banatvala |first3=J.E. |chapter=45. Rubella |title=Topley and Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-340-88562-8 |pages=960–992 |volume=2 Virology }}</ref> Henry Veale, an English Royal Artillery surgeon, described an outbreak in India. He coined the name "rubella" (from the Latin word, meaning "little red") in 1866.<ref name=Ackerknecht1982/><ref name=Lee2000>{{cite journal |vauthors=Lee JY, Bowden DS |title=Rubella virus replication and links to teratogenicity |journal=Clin. Microbiol. Rev. |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=571–87 |year=2000 |pmid=11023958 |doi=10.1128/CMR.13.4.571-587.2000 |pmc=88950 }}</ref><ref name=cdc>{{cite book |editor-last=Atkinson |editor-first=W |editor2-last=Hamborsky |editor2-first=J |editor3-last=McIntyre |editor3-first=L |editor4-last=Wolfe |editor4-first=S |year=2007 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/pink-chapters.htm |title=Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases |edition= 10th |chapter=12. Rubella |chapter-url=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/rubella.pdf |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=2007-07-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620135201/http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/pink-chapters.htm |archive-date=2007-06-20 }}</ref><ref name=MoHNZ>{{cite book | date = April 2006 | title = Immunisation Handbook 2006 | publisher = Ministry of Health, Wellington, NZ. | url = http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/immunisation-handbook-2006 | chapter = Chapter 11 — Rubella | chapter-url = http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/4617/$File/2006-11rubella.pdf | isbn = 978-0-478-29926-7 | access-date = 2007-07-03 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071115005220/http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/immunisation-handbook-2006 | archive-date = 2007-11-15 }}</ref>

It was formally recognised as an individual entity in 1881, at the International Congress of Medicine in [[London]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=J. L. |title=Contributions to the study of Rötheln |journal=Trans. Int. Med. Congr. Phil. |volume=4 |issue=14 |year=1881 }}</ref> In 1914, [[Alfred Fabian Hess]] theorised that rubella was caused by a virus, based on work with monkeys.<ref name=whonamedit>{{cite journal | first = Alfred Fabian | last = Hess | year = 1914 | title = German measles (rubella): an experimental study | journal = Archives of Internal Medicine | volume = 13 | issue = 6 | pages = 913–6 | doi = 10.1001/archinte.1914.00070120075007 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1423315 | access-date = 2019-09-09 | archive-date = 2020-08-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200806215002/https://zenodo.org/record/1423315 | url-status = live }} as cited by {{cite journal | first = Ole Daniel | last = Enersen | url = http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2283.html | title = Alfred Fabian Hess | journal = Science | volume = 79 | issue = 2039 | pages = 70–72 | access-date = 2007-07-03 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930180647/http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2283.html | archive-date = 2007-09-30 | bibcode = 1934Sci....79...70. | year = 1934 | doi = 10.1126/science.79.2039.70 | pmid = 17798141 }}</ref> In 1938, Hiro and Tosaka confirmed this by passing the disease to children using filtered nasal washings from acute cases.<ref name=cdc/>

In 1940, there was a widespread epidemic of rubella in [[Australia]]. Subsequently, ophthalmologist [[Norman Gregg|Norman McAllister Gregg]] found 78 cases of congenital cataracts in infants and 68 of them were born to mothers who had caught rubella in early pregnancy.<ref name=Lee2000/><ref name=cdc/> Gregg published an account, ''Congenital Cataract Following German Measles in the Mother'', in 1941. He described a variety of problems now known as [[congenital rubella syndrome]] (CRS) and noticed that the earlier the mother was infected, the worse the damage was. Since no vaccine was yet available, some popular magazines promoted the idea of "German measles parties" for infected children to spread the disease to other children (especially girls) to immunize them for life and protect them from later catching the disease when pregnant.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPWQCkzPYO8C&pg=PA84 |page=84 |title=Dangerous Pregnancies: Mothers, Disabilities, and Abortion in Modern America |first=Leslie J. |last=Reagan |isbn=978-0-520-94500-5 |date=2010-07-20 |publisher=University of California Press |access-date=2017-09-11 |archive-date=2023-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113143047/https://books.google.com/books?id=pPWQCkzPYO8C&pg=PA84 |url-status=live }}</ref> The virus was isolated in tissue culture in 1962 by two separate groups led by physicians Paul Douglas Parkman and [[Thomas Huckle Weller]].<ref name=Lee2000/><ref name=MoHNZ/>

There was a pandemic of rubella between 1962 and 1965, starting in Europe and spreading to the United States.<ref name=MoHNZ/> In the years 1964–65, the United States had an estimated 12.5 million rubella cases ([[1962–1965 rubella epidemic|1964–1965 rubella epidemic]]). This led to 11,000 miscarriages or therapeutic abortions and 20,000 cases of congenital rubella syndrome. Of these, 2,100 died as neonates, 12,000 were deaf, 3,580 were blind, and 1,800 were intellectually disabled. In New York alone, CRS affected 1% of all births.<ref>J.B. Hanshaw, J.A. Dudgeon, and W.C. Marshall. Viral diseases of the fetus and newborn. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1985</ref><ref name=EPI>{{cite journal |date=August 1998 |url=http://www.ops-oms.org/english/ad/fch/im/nlrubella_PublicHealthBurdenRubellaCRS_Aug1998.pdf |title=Public Health Burden of Rubella and CRS|periodical=EPI Newsletter |volume=XX |issue=4 |publisher=Pan American Health Organization |access-date=2007-07-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719123000/http://www.ops-oms.org/english/ad/fch/im/nlrubella_PublicHealthBurdenRubellaCRS_Aug1998.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref>

In 1967, the [[Molecule|molecular structure]] of rubella was observed under [[Electron microscope|electron microscopy]] using [[Immune complex|antigen-antibody complexes]] by Jennifer M. Best, [[June Almeida]], J E Banatvala and A P Waterson.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lambert|first1=Nathaniel|last2=Strebel|first2=Peter|last3=Orenstein|first3=Walter|last4=Icenogle|first4=Joseph|last5=Poland|first5=Gregory A.|date=2015-06-06|title=Rubella|journal=Lancet|volume=385|issue=9984|pages=2297–2307|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60539-0|issn=0140-6736|pmc=4514442|pmid=25576992}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Best|first1=Jennifer M.|last2=Banatvala|first2=J.E.|last3=Almeida|first3=June D.|last4=Waterson|first4=A.P.|date=29 July 1967|title=Morphological Characteristics of Rubella Virus|journal=The Lancet|language=en|volume=290|issue=7509|pages=237–239|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(67)92302-1}}</ref>

In 1969, a live attenuated virus vaccine was licensed.<ref name=cdc/> In the early 1970s, a triple vaccine containing attenuated measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) viruses was introduced.<ref name=MoHNZ/> By 2006, confirmed cases in the Americas had dropped below 3000 a year. However, a 2007 outbreak in [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], and [[Chile]] pushed the cases to 13,000 that year.<ref name=eliminated/>

=== Eradication efforts ===
On January 22, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the [[Pan American Health Organization]] declared and certified [[Colombia]] free of rubella and became the first [[Latin America]]n country to eliminate the disease within its borders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eltiempo.com/vida-de-hoy/salud/colombia-libre-de-sarampion-y-rubeola_13396295-4|title=Colombia, libre de sarampión y rubéola – Archivo Digital de Noticias de Colombia y el Mundo desde 1.990 – eltiempo.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202092818/http://www.eltiempo.com/vida-de-hoy/salud/colombia-libre-de-sarampion-y-rubeola_13396295-4|archive-date=2014-02-02|date=2014-01-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/salud/colombia-fue-declarada-libre-de-sarampion-y-rubeola-articulo-470243|title=Colombia fue declarada libre de sarampión y rubéola|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523025604/http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/salud/colombia-fue-declarada-libre-de-sarampion-y-rubeola-articulo-470243|archive-date=2015-05-23|date=2014-01-22}}</ref> On April 29, 2015, the Americas became the first WHO region to officially eradicate the disease. The last non-imported cases occurred in 2009 in Argentina and Brazil. The Pan American Health Organization director remarked, "The fight against rubella has taken more than 15 years, but it has paid off with what I believe will be one of the most important pan-American public health achievements of the 21st Century."<ref>{{cite news|title=Rubella (German measles) eradicated from Americas|publisher=BBC|date=April 29, 2015|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32523300|access-date=April 30, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501045607/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32523300|archive-date=May 1, 2015}}</ref> The declaration was made after 165 million health records and genetically confirming that all recent cases were caused by known imported strains of the virus.  Rubella is still common in some regions of the world and Susan E. Reef, team lead for rubella at the CDC's global immunization division, who joined in the announcement, said there was no chance it would be eradicated worldwide before 2020.<ref name=eliminated /> Rubella is the third disease to be eliminated from the [[Western Hemisphere]] with vaccination after [[smallpox]] and [[poliomyelitis|polio]].<ref name=eliminated/><ref name=PAHO2015/>