title: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis with remission in a Bosnian refugee child.
abstract: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) virtually disappeared from the US after mass measles immunization programs dating from the 1960s. However, SSPE has reappeared in internationally adopted children and in refugee children emigrating from developing or war torn countries lacking effective measles immunization programs. SSPE usually occurs 6 to 8 years after a bout of measles in early childhood; death typically follows within 1 to 3 years. What is often not reported in textbooks is that spontaneous remission occurs in a small subset of children with documented SSPE.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Center, Cedar Rapids, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Winthrop S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Risk
authors.forename: Winthrop S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Risk
mesh_terms: D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010672:Phenytoin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012036:Refugees; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013190:SSPE Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013344:Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D010672:Phenytoin