| • | AKA German measles; Three-day measles |
prodrome:
| • | hours or days, mild symptoms |
| • | lymphadenopathy: postauricular, suboccipital, cervical |
eruptive phase:
| • | begins on neck and face and spreads in hours to trunk and extremities |
| • | the color is less vivid than that of scarlet fever and lacks the blue or violaceous tinge seen in measles |
| • | the lesions are usually discrete (though some coalesce on face or trunk) |
| • | fades in the same order it appeared (after 24-48 hours) |
| • | arthritis, especially the phalangeal joints in women, may last for 2-3 weeks |
ddx: (exanthem with arthritis)
| • | acute rheumatic fever; rheumatoid arthritis |
| • | women who have rubella early in the first trimester may transmit the disease to fetus (congenital rubella syndrome) |
| • | women of unknown (rubella) immune status who conceive and develop an exanthem that in any way resembles rubella should have a titer measured immediately and again in 7-14 days |
| • | if infection is likely à abortion |
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