SSPE - a serious complication of measles

Sarah Walton caught measles when she was 11 months old, and at the time recovered well. Twenty years later, however, she fell ill and was diagnosed with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). SSPE is a persistent viral infection, a rare but devastating complication of measles which leads to a progressive destruction of the central nervous system. It causes dementia, loss of motor control, epilepsy and eventually death. In this video Sarah's mother Jo talks about the impact that SSPE has had on Sarah and the people around her. More information about measles: vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/measles