Incidence of congenital rubella syndrome in Japan (1965-1985). A nationwide survey of the number of deaf children with history of maternal rubella attending special schools for the deaf in Japan.

Accurate congenital rubella syndrome surveillance in Japan is of great interest because of the hypothesis that the Japanese rubella virus was less virulent than the strains prevalent in Europe and the Americas 20 years ago. A nationwide survey of deaf children with a history of maternal rubella in special schools for the deaf in Japan yielded a total of 365 deaf school children with congenital rubella syndrome born between 1963 and 1982. The overall average prevalence was 0.31 case per 100,000 population, and the incidence was 0.1-6.1 cases per 100,000 annual live births in Japan. If one considers the decrease in the number of deaf children attending special schools for the deaf because of the recent adoption of the policy of integrating deaf children into ordinary schools, the number of cases of congenital rubella syndrome might actually be much greater than that revealed by this survey and much greater than the 88 cases previously reported in Japan. Among the 365 cases who had deafness, 8.2% were found to have cataract (with and without congenital heart disease), and 11.0% were found to be complicated by congenital heart disease (but without cataract).