Definition
The ringed rubella is one of the well-known childhood diseases and therefore occurs mainly in kindergarten and school age. But also adults with close contact to children can easily become infected. The disease is very contagious, but usually runs without complications.
Ringel rubella is a viral infection that occurs particularly frequently in spring and winter. The disease often shows no symptoms at all, but it can lead to a classic skin rash, which gave the disease its name. So far there is no vaccination against the virus.
Symptoms
The infection with rubella is in many cases completely symptom-free. In other cases the following symptoms may occur: About every second to fourth child develops a skin rash during the course of the infection. It usually begins on the face with large, so-called butterfly-shaped skin redness (erythema) on both cheeks and the nose.
Usually it is absent directly around the mouth, which is called perioral pallor. It looks a bit like slapping someone in the face, which is why rubella is also called “slapped cheak disease”. In the next few days, reddening of the skin on the arms, legs and bottom usually occurs.
They look like spots that connect and form a garland-like picture. In the face, the rash already blows out somewhat and finally disappears completely after several days or weeks. Typical flu symptoms can occur, such as fever, cold feeling, muscle aches and headaches.
Without the characteristic rash it is then often interpreted as a flu-like infection. While many other childhood diseases are accompanied by extremely itchy rashes, the itching of rubella is usually mild. Although some children complain of an itchy and sometimes also tense skin during the course of the disease, the rash is rather less impairing for the majority of those affected. However, once the infection has subsided, the remaining dry skin can cause increased itching. Increased care of the scaly skin areas helps to counteract this.
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