A study of adult rubella outbreak and its implications on increasing number of women in uniform

Rubella, although a fairly innocuous disease, is a known cause of severe birth defects in newborn. With number of women in uniform on the rise and they being assigned instructional and medical care duties, adult rubella outbreak in a training centre as in this study poses grave threat to them; besides, having disruption potential for their training.

This study was conducted at an Airmen Training Centre of the Indian Air Force having more than 2500 recruits, in five squadrons. All cases of fever with rash and/or lymphadenopathy were included in the study. The demographic, epidemiological and clinical data of all the cases were analyzed and medical records reviewed.

A total of 31 male recruits reported over 5 days. Among those, 21 cases were from a single squadron to which the index belonged. Twelve women officers were doing instructional duties at the time of outbreak though none became infected. Fever with a rash (90.32%) was the commonest presentation, and lymphadenopathy (64.51%) was the most common sign. Attack rate (AR) with-in the squadron most affected was 4.18%, with an overall AR of 1.23%. The case fatality rate of the disease was nil.

Till the fully immunized cohort of young recruits start getting enrolled, it will be prudent to introduce rubella vaccine to limit the loss of vital training man-hours and prevent the possibility of congenital rubella syndrome in the women instructors and medical caregivers, working in the line of their duty.