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By Karla Gale
ORLANDO, Mar 13 (Reuters Health) - Vaccinating women for German measles during the first 3 months of pregnancy does not appear to raise risks for fetal malformations, according to researchers attending the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Experts have long known that infection with German measles, also called rubella, during the first trimester of pregnancy can raise the risk of miscarriage or fetal abnormalities, especially deafness. But there has been some debate as to whether vaccinating against the virus that causes rubella might carry its own risks to the fetus.
Dr. Zina Levichek of The Motherisk Program at the University of Toronto in Canada compared rates of birth defects in infants born to 94 unvaccinated women to those seen in the infants of women vaccinated for rubella before they knew they were pregnant.
The investigators found no increased rate of malformations and no significant differences in miscarriage rate or birth weight between the two groups. Developmental milestones--including tests measuring hearing--were also similar in infants from each group.
"The only significant difference in pregnancy outcomes lies in a higher rate of pregnancy terminations in the (vaccinated) group," Levichek said, noting that seven women in the vaccinated group and none in the unvaccinated group had undergone induced abortion.
According to Levichek, results of her team's study imply that rubella vaccination is not a reason to terminate a pregnancy.
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