A search for persistent rubella virus infection in persons with chronic symptoms after rubella and rubella immunization and in patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes, mononuclear cells, and plasma and nasopharyngeal specimens were obtained from 6 subjects with persistent symptoms following rubella immunization, 1 subject with persistent symptoms following rubella, 11 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, 17 recently immunized control subjects, and 1 control subject with acute clinical rubella. Rubella virus was isolated from the blood or nasopharynx of four of the 18 control subjects. In contrast, rubella virus was not recovered from any specimens from the seven subjects with persistent symptoms following immunization or natural infection or from the 11 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. A polymerase chain reaction assay detected rubella virus in the blood from three of 14 control subjects but not in the blood from two subjects with persistent symptoms following rubella immunization or in that from three children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. We have not been able to confirm the findings of others who have reportedly recovered rubella virus from lymphocytes of persons with persistent symptoms following rubella or rubella immunization.