Japan suffers worst year of children born with congenital rubella syndrome in 2013
Japan has battled with a rubella, or German measles outbreak throughout 2013, with the highest number of cases being reported from the Osaka and Tokyo Metropolis Prefectures.
The latest numbers on total rubella cases showed the Asian country with 14,171 rubella cases as of Oct. 16, 2013. This compares with 2,353 rubella cases reported in 2012.
In a report today in the Japan Times, thirty-one children were born with congenital rubella syndrome in Japan in 2013, the worst on record, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The number more than tripled from the 2004 record of 10 and was far beyond the zero to four cases reported in other years since the institute began compiling such statistics in 1999.
Rubella is an infection caused by a virus. If a pregnant woman becomes infected, she can pass the infection to the unborn baby. This infection can lead to severe birth defects, miscarriage, or stillbirth. The health problems due to the infection are called congenital rubella syndrome.
For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page and the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show page.
Need editorial assistance in preparing journal articles, dissertations, thesis, grant applications, and reports?Check out XCell Editing for available services and prices
Image/CIA
[…] went through a rubella outbreak in 2013. Japan reported 14,357 rubella cases; however, in 2013, 31 babies were born with birth defects because their mothers had rubella, compared to 5 babies in all of […]