Atypical clinical presentation of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)

Abstract

SSPE (Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis) is a chronic and slowly progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system caused by a persistent measles virus usually affecting the childhood and adolescent age group. We present the case of a 19 years old adolescent, the product of a normal full-term pregnancy, with a primary measles infection at the age of 7 months. Neurological examination at admission discloses unilateral myoclonic jerks of upper left limb and choreoathetosis of the left hand fingers. The particularity of our case is the unilaterality of the myoclonic jerks at the onset and relatively old the age of debut. The findings of periodic complexes on EEG, elevated gamma globulin and oligoclonal bands in the CSF and elevated measles antibody titers in the serum and CSF were sufficient to make diagnosis of SSPE.