subacutesclerosing panencephalitis

subacute scle·ros·ing panencephalitis (sklə-rōʹsĭng) n.

An often fatal degenerative disease of the central nervous system occurring chiefly in young people, caused by slow infection with a measles virus and characterized by progressive loss of mental and motor functions ending in dementia and paralysis.

  [sclerosing, from sclerose, to harden, back-formation from sclerosed.]

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