subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

[skli-roh-sing pan-en-sef-uh-lahy-tis, pan-]

noun Pathology.

a rare infection of the central nervous system caused by the measles virus, occurring in children and adolescents several years after a measles attack and characterized by progressive personality changes, seizures, and muscular incoordination. Abbreviation: SSPE

Origin of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

First recorded in 1965–70; scleros(is) + -ing²; pan- + encephalitis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in Medicine

An often fatal degenerative disease of the central nervous system occurring chiefly in young people, caused by slow infection with a measles virus and characterized by progressive loss of mental and motor functions ending in dementia and paralysis.