In England and Wales, unlike the United States, SSPE is a persisting problem. The number of new notifications of SSPE in a 6 year period (1980 - 86) was 60 (10 cases per year). There were 62 deaths from SSPE in the same period! Immunisation against measles increased from 50 to 68% between 1980 and 1986. Of those children who developed SSPE, less than 5% had been immunised (Drs Miller and Barnes, personal communications). Intraventricular Interferon, an arduous and poorly tolerated therapy, is under investigation, but prevention by the wider application of measles immunisation is the most obvious solution to this generally fatal disorder. Having seen 6 cases of SSPE in the past 6 months, I can attest to the distress to child, family, nurses, social workers and physicians involved.
