An infantile case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis with an abnormal ganglioside pattern in the brain.

Recent evidence has suggested that subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is due to temperate infection of the brain by a virus, probably measles virus (Symposium, 1968). In the majority of patients with SSPE, chemical analysis of the brain has shown features of inflammation and demyelination (Cumings, 1965), though 2 patients have been described previously whose brains had abnormal patterns of gangliosides (Norton, Poduslo, and Suzuki, 1966; Ledeen, Salsman, and Cabrera, 1968). An infant is described in this paper, the youngest reported case of SSPE, in whom the histological features of the encephalitis at necropsy were studied by light and electron microscopy, and in whom chemical analysis of the brain showed an unusual pattern of gangliosides.