Article: Health officials warn of rubella outbreak

Health officials warned yesterday that a highly unusual outbreak of rubella, or German measles, has hit the Boston area, and urged measures to prevent the illness from spreading to pregnant women, whose fetuses can suffer devastating birth defects.

At least 13 cases of rubella have been diagnosed in the past 1 1/2 months, mainly among inmates and staff of Boston-area jails and among homeless people, according to the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals.

One of the patients is a pregnant woman, said Dr. Anita Barry, head of the city's Communicable Disease Control program.

"I don't think we've had 10 cases of rubella in the city of Boston in the past five years," said Barry, crediting a ...

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