| Noun | 1. | panencephalitis - diffuse inflammation of the entire brain cephalitis, encephalitis, phrenitis - inflammation of the brain usually caused by a virus; symptoms include headache and neck pain and drowsiness and nausea and fever (`phrenitis' is no longer in scientific use) Bosin's disease, Dawson's encephalitis, inclusion body encephalitis, sclerosing leukoencephalitis, SSPE, subacute inclusion body encephalitis, subacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, Van Bogaert encephalitis - 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 rubella panencephalitis - a rare loss of mental and physical skills in adolescents; associated with the rubella virus |