Fulminant Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) – An Ordeal for the Family and the Clinician!
Gowri Shanker Barathidasan1, Rindha V Rao1, Sireesha Yareeda1, Megha S Uppin2, Narayanan Ramakrishna3, Reshma Sultana Shaik1*
1Department of Neurology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
2Department of Pathology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
3Department of Radiology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
*Corresponding Author: Reshma Sultana Shaik, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
https://doi.org/10.58624/SVOANE.2025.06.025
Received: September 09, 2025
Published: October 07, 2025
Citation: Barathidasan GS, Rao RV, Yareeda S, Uppin MS, Ramakrishna N, Shaik RS. Fulminant Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) – An Ordeal for the Family and the Clinician!. SVOA Neurology 2025, 6:5, 142-145. doi. 10.58624/SVOANE.2025.06.025
Abstract
Background: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare condition notorious for causing a chronic, progressive encephalitis that affects children and young adults, resulting from persistent infection with an immune-resistant measles virus.
Methods: Descriptive study of a case of an eleven-year-old child who had a rapid and fulminant course of illness, suggesting a rare phenotype of “Fulminant SSPE”. This was confirmed with an electroencephalogram (EEG) and measles antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Results: The clinical deterioration and electrophysiological features with imaging provided evidence of a grave entity. Our patient had a downhill course despite starting on intrathecal interferon therapy. The child succumbed to the illness very rapidly, and autopsy revealed predominant inflammation and minimal gliosis.
Conclusion: Awareness of this rare entity, fulminant SSPE, is of paramount importance to recognise it early (as the presentation may be atypical), prognosticate about the illness, and initiate available immunomodulatory therapy.
Keywords: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), Fulminant, Intrathecal interferon
