Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) & vaccines

Quotes
The Japanese Committee for the National Registry of Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) confirmed that 215 cases of SSPE occurred in the 20 years from 1966 to 1985, as discovered in the 10-year surveillance from April 1976 through March 1986. The annual incidence in recent years has been between 10 and 23 cases. Among cases with a certain history of measles illness or measles vaccination, 184 (90.2%) had a history of measles illness without receiving measles vaccine. There were 11 probable measles vaccine-associated cases (5.4%), three (1.5%) being vaccinated with a combined use of killed and live vaccine and eight (3.9%) with further attenuated live vaccine. There were nine cases (4.4%) without a history of either measles illness or measles vaccination. Intervals between measles illness and the onset of SSPE varied from 1 to 16 years (mean, 7.0 years). The periods following measles vaccination with further attenuated live vaccine were 2 to 11 years (mean, 4.6 years). Annual incidence rates of SSPE per million cases of measles ranged between 6.1 and 40.9 (mean, 16.1) in the 10 measles epidemic years 1968-1977, and those following vaccination with further attenuated live vaccine were zero in most years and at the highest 3.08 (mean, 0.9) per million doses of distributed vaccine.

"Stacey Berry, of Atherton, Manchester was 13 when she had a booster jab in November 1994. Days later she started having fits, "stopped smiling, and stared into space." She was diagnosed with the brain disease SSPE and given two years to live. She died in November 2000, aged 19. A post mortem examination concluded the disease was a "rare complication" of the vaccine"."--Media

"It is believe that the administration of Salk vaccine in N Zealand was related to the appearance of SSPE in the community. The idea that an unusual reaction to measles infection is the sole cause of SSPE is not consistent with the observations in N Zealand."--SSPE AND SALK VACCINE

Citations
Belgamwar RB, et al (1997). Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine induced subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. J Indian Med Assoc. 1997 Nov;95(11):594. No abstract available. PMID: 9567594; UI: 98229001.
A particular case of SSPE is described in a thirteen-year-old girl who had been immunized against all childhood diseases; receiving the MMR vaccine at the age of nine months. The girl’s intellectual functioning until development of illness had been very good. After illness developed, the child verbalized little and was socially inappropriate; her memory and thinking abilities were impaired. She grew progressively worse, and added myoclonic jerks of the upper limbs, with depressed deep tendon reflexes. The authors concluded that Subacute, Sclerosing Panencephalitis was engendered as a delayed adverse effect of measles vaccine. The authors note other cases of SSPE induced by the attenuated measles vaccine.

Halsey N. Risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis from measles vaccination. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1990 Nov;9(11):857-8. No abstract available.PMID: 2263442; UI: 91088240.
"Polymerase chain reaction detection of the hemagglutinin gene from an attenuated measles vaccine strain in the peripheral mononuclear cells of children with autoimmune hepatitis," Archives of Virology volume 141, 1996, pages 877-884: "The measles virus is known to be persistent in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE). Since the introduction of measles vaccines, vaccine-associated SSPE has increased in the USA. Therefore, we should pay attention to SSPE after inoculation with measles vaccine, despite the decrease in the incidence of [wild] measles."

Cheng (1973). SSPE after measles vaccination

Okuno Y, Nakao T, Ishida N, Konno T, Mizutani H, Fukuyama Y, Sato T, Isomura S, Ueda S, Kitamura I, et al.
Incidence of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis following measles and measles vaccination in Japan. Int J Epidemiol. 1989 Sep;18(3):684-9. PMID: 2807674 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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