Pediatrics: Hearing Help

The telltale rash of German measles (rubella) can come and go unseen during a night's sleep. In fact, the disease is generally so mild that a nationwide epidemic of it three years ago caused no panic. An estimated 30,000 pregnant women were among those infected, however, and rubella can wreak tragic damage in unborn children. For one of every two rubella babies, that damage includes at least a partial loss of hearing. "The deafness we are seeing now—the aftermath of the epidemic—is more severe than anyone anticipated," says Dr. Fred Linthicum Jr. of the children's division of the Los...