Data on the incidence of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in Romania

A programme for the active detection of SSPE cases hospitalized in the Clinic for Infantile Neuropsychiatry within the "Dr. Gh. Marinescu" Hospital, Bucharest, was initiated in 1975. The diagnosis relied on clinical, electroencephalographic and seroimmunological criteria. Thirty-three cases were sufficiently documented to be considered as SSPE (mean age on onset: 6.1 years; male/female ratio: 3.7). Clinical, immunological and epidemiological particularities resulting from this investigation are presented and epidemiological parameters of SSPE are discussed in relation to measles mortality data. The incidence of SSPE--a lethal persistent measles infection--points to the necessity of antimeasles vaccination.