congenital rubella and isolation

[GingerSue]

infants born with congential rubella syndrome should be isolated

they continue to shed the virus for up to 12 months

so - are they kept isolated for 12 months?

[GingerSue]

does anyone know about those 12 months?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Okay - per the CDC, the incidence is very small - 3 cases in 2001 and yes, it does seem like the kids have to isolated x12 months while they shed the virus. Only 20% of the cases of congenital rubella infection even result in live births and of the 3 cases in 2001, 2 were born in the US to foreign-born women. These kids are usually deaf and blind also.

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/surv-manual/chpt12_rub_crs.pdf

[Jolie, BSN]

infants born with congential rubella syndrome should be isolated

they continue to shed the virus for up to 12 months

so - are they kept isolated for 12 months?

They are kept isolated for their entire hospital stay, whether that is a few days on mother-baby, or a few months in the NICU.

Once discharged, the parents need to be taught not to expose their baby to people who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, or otherwise vulnerable to rubella infection. They are not, to my knowlege, quarantined, if that is what you mean by isolation for 12 months. There are always people in the general population capable of transmitting communicable diseases to others. I do not believe that a newborn with congenital rubella would be treated differently than other disease carriers from a public health standpoint.

[GingerSue]

thanks