subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

subacute scle·ros·ing panencephalitis  (skl-rsng)

n.

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.

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[sclerosing, from sclerose, to harden, back-formation from sclerosed.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

subacute sclerosing panencephalitis - a rare chronic progressive encephalitis caused by the measles virus and occurring primarily in children and young adults; death usually occurs within three years; characterized by primary measles infection before the age of two years Bosin's disease, Dawson's encephalitis, inclusion body encephalitis, sclerosing leukoencephalitis, SSPE, subacute inclusion body encephalitis, subacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis, Van Bogaert encephalitis panencephalitis - diffuse inflammation of the entire brain