Stanley A. Plotkin, MD

Physician, Professor, Researcher, and Vaccine Developer

German physician Friedrich Hoffmann was the first to give a clinical description of the disease that would later come to be known as rubella. Until that point, however, so many German physicians were involved in identifying and distinguishing the disease from other known maladies (after Hoffmann’s description, German physicians de Bergen and Orlow confirmed his work) that it would be referred to as “Rötheln,” from the German word Röteln. Thus rubella would also eventually be referred to as “German measles.”

A massive rubella outbreak in the United States initially failed to draw serious attention. A Time magazine article encouraged rubella parties, even recommending strategies so that “especially all the little girls get the infection.”

Unfortunately, despite warnings about keeping infected children away from pregnant women, nearly 50,000 women in vulnerable stages of their pregnancies were infected with rubella during the outbreak, leading to thousands of miscarriages and even more children being born with severe damage. At least 8,000 were born deaf, 3,500 deaf and blind; the total number of congenital rubella syndrome cases reached 20,000.

Over the course of the outbreak the country tallied approximately 12.5 million cases of rubella and more than 2,000 deaths. Resulting medical costs reached the billions.