Abstract
Rubella is a mild febrile rash illness caused by the rubella virus. The most serious consequence of rubella is congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which occurs if the primary rubella infection occurs during early pregnancy, with subsequent infection of the placenta and the developing fetus. WHO supported countries to set up sentinel surveillance for CRS using standard case definitions, protocols, and case classification scheme. This descriptive analysis summarises the data from 5 countries which have been regularly reporting. A total of 383 suspected cases of CRS were notified from the 5 countries as of December 2016, of which 52 cases were laboratory confirmed and 67 were confirmed on clinical grounds.The majority (43%) of confirmed CRS cases were in the age group 6 - 11 months. The most common major clinical manifestation (Group A) among the confirmed cases is congenital heart disease (72%) followed by cataracts (32%) and glaucoma (10%). The number of years of reporting from these sentinel sites is too short to describe trends in CRS occurrence across the years. However, the limited surveillance data has yielded comparable information with other developing countries prior to introduction of rubella vaccine. As more countries introduce rubella vaccine into their immunisation programs, there is a need to ensure that all rubella outbreaks are thoroughly investigated and documented, to expand sentinel surveillance for CRS in more countries in the Region, and to complement this with retrospective record reviews for CRS cases in selected countries.
Highlights
Rubella is a mild febrile rash illness caused by the rubella virus
As more countries introduce rubella vaccine into their immunisation programs, there is a need to ensure that all rubella outbreaks are thoroughly investigated and documented, to expand sentinel surveillance for congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in more countries in the Region, and to complement this with retrospective record reviews for CRS cases in selected countries
We reviewed the sentinel surveillance data submitted from the 4 countries (Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania) that had regularly shared data with the WHO
Summary
Rubella is a mild febrile rash illness caused by the rubella virus. The illness is characterized by a transient, erythematous rash, low grade fever, post-auricular and sub-occipital lymphadenopathy, sore throat, red eyes, headache, malaise and anorexia[1, 2]. The most serious consequence of rubella is congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which occurs if the primary rubella infection occurs during early pregnancy, with subsequent infection of the placenta and the developing fetus. The risk for congenital defects has been estimated at 90% for maternal infection before 11 weeks of gestation. Nerve deafness is the single most common finding among infants with CRS. Unilateral or bilateral cataracts are the most serious eye finding, occurring in about a third of infants. Patent ductus arteriosus is the most frequently reported cardiac defect[1, 3]
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