Question

There is a public health perception that healthy girls aged 5 to 14 years should be exposed to natural infection with

• A. Rubella (German measles)
• B. Mumps
• C. Chickenpox
• D. Whooping cough

Hint:

Natural infection at this young age builds lifelong immunity before childbearing years, guarding a future pregnancy against a specific birth defect risk.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding the Concept.
This question is about an old public health rule on rubella, and why doctors were happy to let young girls catch it naturally.

Step 2: Key Approach.
Rubella causes trouble mainly when a pregnant woman catches it early in pregnancy, not when a child catches it. A child who has already had rubella and recovered keeps the antibody for life, so she cannot catch it a second time.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation.
Girls aged 5 to 14 are still years away from pregnancy. If they catch rubella now, in a mild and self-limiting form, their body builds lasting protection. By the time they are old enough to conceive, this protection is already there, so a rubella infection during pregnancy, and the severe fetal damage called Congenital Rubella Syndrome, becomes far less likely.
The other three infections in the options, mumps, chickenpox, and whooping cough, do not carry this same danger to a fetus in early pregnancy, so public health guidance never pushed for deliberate childhood exposure to them for this reason.

Step 4: Final Answer.
Rubella is the infection healthy girls aged 5 to 14 were traditionally allowed to catch, so natural immunity is already in place before they reach childbearing age.