Two cases of rubella infection with cardiac involvement

During the prevalence of rubella infection in Japan in 1975, we experienced 2 cases complicated with cardiac involvement: a 40-year-old housewife and a 52-year-old man. These 2 cases showed enlarged cardiac silhouettes and bilateral pleural effusion on the chest X-ray films. Pericardial effusion was demonstrated by echocardiogram and cardiac RI pool scintigram. A myocardial biopsy specimen showed slight cell infiltration in Case 1. The anti-rubella antibody titer rose from 128x to 4096x in Case 1 and from 265x to 1024x in Case 2. From these findings Case 1 was diagnosed as rubella pancarditis and Case 2 as pleuropericarditis. Only 4 cases with the cardiac involvement of rubella was reported in the past.