Status dystonicus and rhabdomyolysis in a patient with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is an uncommon presentation of measles virus infection in the central nervous system1. The condition appears to result from mutations in the matrix protein, fusion protein, or hemagglutinin of the measles virus, which allow the virus to spread throughout the brain2. Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder, in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. Patients with dystonia sometimes develop increasingly frequent and relentless episodes of devastating generalized dystonia, which is called status dystonicus or dystonic storm3. Dystonia has been described in a few cases with SSPE, but status dystonicus has not been reported before4,5. On the other hand, there are a few cases of rhabdomyolysis associated with dystonia6,7. Here, we describe a patient with SSPE who had rhabdomyolysis due to status dystonicus.