[Rubella epidemic of 1977 in Turin. Virological studies]

During the outbreak of rubella in Turin in 1977, 1,041 newborns, whose mother's pregnancy coincided with the epidemic, were studied for the elimination of rubella virus through inoculation in primary cultures of African green monkey kidney cells. Additional 10 embryos or fetuses of therapeutic abortion from women with rubella early in pregnancy were studied through cultivation of material of abortion and inoculation in monkey cells. Only one strain was isolated, from the placenta of an embryo whose mother suffered rubella in the 2nd month of pregnancy. The hypothesis is proposed of a particularly benignity, from a teratogenic point of view, of the virus involved in the outbreak.