A rare inflammatory disease of the brain, mostly affecting children. It is linked to having measles at a very young age, and is usually fatal.
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), or Dawson encephalitis, is a progressive, usually fatal neurological disorder typically affecting only children and adolescents. SSPE causes intellectual deterioration, convulsive seizures, and motor abnormalities.
A rare complication of measles due to infection of the brain with the measles virus. It develops 2-18 years after the onset of the measles, and is characterized by mental deterioration leading on to convulsions, coma and death. The annual incidence in Britain is about one per million of the childhood population. The risk of its developing is 5-25 times greater after measles than after measles vaccination.
A disease of childhood and adolescence marked by gradual and progressive intellectual and behavioral deterioration followed by seizures, muscle jerking, gait disturbances, and eventually coma. The illness is a late complication of measles infection (usually developing about 5 years after the child had measles). It has been almost completely eradicated in the U.S. as a result of universal measles vaccination.
An infrequent and deadly form of encephalitis observed in children and young adults, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, is instigated by the measles virus. This condition, which might only manifest several years after the initial infection, brings about gradual deterioration in brain function spanning weeks or months. It leads to occurrences of seizures, spasticity, alterations in personality, eventual coma, and ultimately, demise.