Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis after Measles Infection

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Source: NEJM

Original: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2504828?af=R&rss=currentIssue...

Published: 2026-02-21T12:30:00Z

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare complication of measles infection[2][3][7]. It is a slow inflammation of the brain caused by a persistent infection with the measles virus, which the immune system has not been able to handle[2][3]. It occurs in approximately 5-10 cases per million diseases[2]. Other sources report an incidence of 1 per 100,000 measles cases[7]. SSPE is a fatal degenerative disease of the central nervous system[7]. It is one of the late consequences of measles along with encephalitis[3][4]. The article is published in the New England Journal of Medicine as a preprint version[1].