A 22-year-old Australian woman with atypical subacute sclerosing panencephalitis diagnosed at postmortem

J Clin Neurosci. 2010 Sep;17(9):1192-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2009.12.016. Epub 2010 Jun 3.

Abstract

Measles remains a significant global health problem. Despite the decline in measles prevalence in Australia following the implementation of a national vaccination program, challenges surrounding this disease remain. This report describes a 22-year-old woman who presented with coordination loss, tremor, choreiform movements and marked visual blurring, and her condition rapidly deteriorated to coma and death. Antemortem investigations did not yield a unifying diagnosis. Postmortem examination provided a diagnosis of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. This patient had a rare neurological complication of measles infection, and her condition is remarkable for the atypical clinical presentation.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Australia
  • Autopsy
  • Coma / etiology
  • Coma / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Measles / complications
  • Measles / pathology*
  • Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / diagnosis
  • Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / etiology*
  • Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / pathology*
  • Young Adult