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Start free with EleplanSubacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis
ORPHA:2806Disease
Also called Dawson encephalitis · SSPE · Subacute inclusion body encephalitis · Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis · Van Bogaert disease · Van Bogaert encephalitis
What it is
A rare infectious disease characterized by slowly progressive brain disorder caused by a mutant measles virus, typically affecting children and young adults. The condition leads to cognitive decline, myoclonus, vision loss, and eventually a vegetative state.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- <1 / 1 000 000 (annual incidence, United States)
- Age of onset
- All ages
- Inheritance
- Not applicable
- Classified as
- Disease
Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.
Signs and symptoms
Common30–79%
20- Abnormal autonomic nervous system physiology
- Akinetic mutism
- Anti-measles antibody positivityDiagnostic criterion
- Brain atrophy
- Chorioretinitis
- Delusion
- Dementia
- Depression
- Dystonia
- EEG with periodic complexesDiagnostic criterion
- Gait disturbance
- Hallucinations
- Irritability
- Lethargy
- Loss of speech
- Motor regression
- Periventricular white matter hyperintensities
- Seizure
- Sleep abnormality
- Vegetative state
These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
ICD-10 codes
Related health topics
Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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