before Zika there was Rubella

A lot of hysteria a year or two ago about the Zika virus causing brain damage if a pregnant mom had the disease. That hysteria has passed thanks to covid grabbing the headlines and the fact that a lot fewer cases are being diagnosed, but there was a big push to get a vaccine for this.

Nowadays, the possibility of a covid vaccine has made the antivax hysteria types get absolutely paranoid.

because a vaccine that saves thousand of lives will be rejected because it might (and I stress might) cause damage to a few dozen people. 

Their favorite target is MMR because the vaccine timing corresponds to the syndromes of children getting a fever at age 1 or 2 and then deteriorating, presumably from viral encephalitis that was not diagnosed...something we docs used to see before MMR vaccine but never mind.

Well anyway, the R in MMR is for rubella, AKA German measles. Which caused severe brain damage, low IQ and behavior symptoms if a woman became infected during early pregnancy..., often the child also with blindness or deafness. A tragedy and one reason that people were more willing to legalize abortion back in the 1960s for these moms.

What brought this to mind was that we were watching the film A Mirror Cracked, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

The plot is a film star who had a mental breakdown after her only child was born brain damaged...and later she met a woman who mentioned she went to a fan party even though she had German measles, and this being Agatha Christie, the star poisoned her drink...

Anyway, what is interesting about the novel is that it was inspired by a real life incident, minus the murder of course.

Tierney, married to legendary designer Oleg Cassini, contracted rubella during a World War II USO appearance at the Hollywood Canteen, allegedly because a female marine with the illness snuck out of quarantine to meet her favorite star.

As a result, in October 1943, Tierney would give birth prematurely to a daughter, Daria. The rubella caused congenital damage, leaving the baby, who weighed just over three pounds at birth, partially blind, deaf, and mentally disabled. Oleg

Reportedly, Tierney would learn what led to her child’s devastating illness years later when she and the fan crossed paths again, with the young woman reminding her idol about their previous meeting — confessing that she had been sick when they met.

SIGH.