You might not have appreciated the United States’ system of immunizing all children against common illnesses until now —now that these seldom-heard-of illnesses are popping up again.

Rowan County health officials confirmed one case of rubella here last week. One case does not an outbreak make, but it could easily lead to one, so public health workers promptly inoculated the person’s coworkers and relatives.

Rubella, also known as German measles, is not particularly life threatening to adults today, thanks to modern medicines. But it does carry horrendous risk for pregnant women and their children. If a woman develops the disease during early pregnancy, it may result in such birth defects as mental retardation, impaired vision and hearing and malformation of the heart.

That’s a scary possibility.

The Health Department has not identified the person with the rubella, but they say a sprinkling of cases around the state stems largely from immigrants who did not have childhood immunizations, many of whom are Latinos. U.S. natives who missed childhood vaccinations for whatever reason are also susceptible.

Times like this help citizens appreciate their public health system. Anyone in doubt as to the status of their immunizations can get a free MMR shot — that’s immunization for mumps, measles and rubella —at the county Health Department. Since 1969, modern medicine has had an easy way to prevent this once-common and potentially debilitating illness. Failure to take advantage of it is like taking a step backward in time.