Rubella

It begins quietly. A scratch in the throat, a slight fever, a fatigue that has no explanation. Then the lymph nodes swell — at the neck, behind the ears, sometimes in the groin. And finally it appears: the rash. Light red, fine-spotted, first on the face, then spreading across the trunk, the arms, the legs. Like a map unfolding across the skin. In children the illness often runs a mild course — so mild that it is sometimes barely noticed. In pregnant women it can reach the unborn child and leave serious consequences.