Immunological behaviour following rubella infection

Several immunological tests were performed on eighty-five patients with rubella. There was a decrease in total leucocytes, neutrophils and T cells, an increase in IgG and the complement components of C4, C9 and CH50, and a marked insensitivity to dinitrochlorobenzen (DNCB) and purified protein derivative (PPD) in many patients. Furthermore, atypical lymphocytes with lobulated nuclei, autoantibodies and reduced blastogenesis were found in some patients. These abnormal findings disappeared within 1 month. These marked immune abnormalities, although transient, may indicate an inhibition of DNA synthesis in lymphocytes which may have some bearing on the high incidence of embryopathy in pregnant women.