Measles Encephalitis

The Post-Infection Encephalitides

“…At this time the patient has developed some immunity to the agent of the primary illness. Recent accounts from the USA confirming the impressions of Beach (1895)° and Ford (1928)° paint a less rosy picture for postmeasles encephalitis; many children, variously estimated at from 20 % to 90 %, show at least a relative impairment of the higher intellectual functions (for example, diminished ability to acquire new knowledge) and of personality and character (Hamilton & Hanna, 1941;Reisman & Rosen, 1943;Appelbaum, Dolgopol & Dolgin, 1949;Sawchuk, La Boccetta, Tornay, Silverstein & Peale, 1949) c ; the longer the patients are observed and the younger the child, the more noticeable these defects are (Litvak et al 1943;Meyer & Byers, 1952)°, and their severity is related to the duration of the acute stages of the malady. Temporary blindness is a rare occurrence (Koenigsfeld, 1945";Jennings, 1952' =).…”