Histopathological study of human placenta in women infected with rubella virus during pregnancy.

A histopathological and virological study is carried out on a group of placentae in the second trimester of pregnancy, obtained during the 1974 rubella epidemic in Cuba. The comparison between the positive and negative cases did not show characteristic lesions of the virus passage through the placenta, which does not coincide with the reports of other authors who generally consider these alterations as a result of this pathology. Eosinophilic intracytoplasmic granules were found in the Hofbauer cells, which should be studied by employing other techniques for accurate identification.