Letter To The Editor

Abstract

For the Academys' Committee on Infectious Diseases, Dr. Katz writes as follows: Dr. Lewak has underlined a troublesome confusion in names which has plagued physicians, patients, and parents. The single letter substitution which barely distinguishes rubella from rubeola is too subtle. The use of a national modifier ("German") which implies that rubella is merely another type of measles, is biologically, historically, and semantically unsound. Would that the confusion were limited to laymen alone! Many an obstetrician has telephoned or written to inquire about a pregnant woman with "measles," when his concern was obviously about rubella.