It's not every day a country is told by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that it is free of an infectious disease. The good news is that Ireland is now rubella free following the recent WHO declaration that endemic transmission of rubella no longer occurs here.
In what is a great achievement for the Irish people and the health service, the risk to pregnant women of contracting congenital rubella here is now extremely low. Effectively, any residual risk rests with the importation of the virus from another country.
Congenital rubella syndrome, which occurs in more than 100,000 children world-wide every year following infection during pregnancy, can be devastating. Its effects include miscarriage and stillbirth. The syndrome may cause cataracts, small eyes, hearing defects, holes in the heart, and an underdeveloped brain with significant mental handicap. It is especially harmful in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy when up to 85 per cent of infants infected during that period will be affected. Deafness is the most common and sometimes the only manifestation.
For adults, rubella, also known as German measles, is a mild self-limiting illness. But in order to protect the foetus, national rubella vaccination programmes are the norm in the developed world. Fortunately, the rubella vaccine is very effective; more than 95 per cent of people who get the vaccine develop life-long immunity.
In the Republic it is offered as MMR vaccine to all children at 12 months of age, with a second dose at four-to-five years of age. The MMR vaccine also gives protection against measles and mumps. Women of child-bearing age who are not immune to rubella are also offered MMR vaccine.
Nonetheless, it requires hard work and commitment to develop the level of immunity against rubella now enjoyed by the Irish people. It reflects the high standard of health surveillance and the uptake of immunisation programmes here. Health professionals and parents may take a collective bow at this landmark WHO announcement.