In the villages of Fiji, apart from Viti Levu, rubella is a disease occurring solely
in widely spaced epidemics. Some villages may not be infected for over 20 years
and will then contain substantial numbers of susceptible women of child-bearing
age.
Evidence is produced that haemagglutination-inhibiting (H.I.) antibody to
rubella is very long lasting in Fijians. The infectivity of the virus is discussed and
it is suggested that, on the average, 50 % of susceptibles are infected in a Fijian
village during a rubella epidemic, but there are large variations.