At just 7 months old, this little boy survived measles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His family thought the worst was behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But years later, the disease returned in a devastating way. \ud83d\udc94<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At age 6, the boy began experiencing seizures and cognitive decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors eventually diagnosed him with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)<\/strong>\u2014a rare, progressive brain disorder that can develop years after a measles infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By age 7, the little boy had died at a California children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SSPE is a devastating complication of measles that can remain hidden for years before symptoms appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early symptoms may include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Personality changes<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Mood problems<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Headaches<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the disease progresses, it can cause severe seizures, muscle spasms, loss of vision, and a decline in cognitive abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In advanced stages, it can affect the body\u2019s ability to control vital functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly, there is no cure for SSPE, although treatment may help slow its progression in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people who contract measles do not develop SSPE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this heartbreaking condition is a reminder that measles can have serious long-term consequences, even years after the original infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A child can appear to recover\u2014and yet, in rare cases, the virus can cause devastating damage later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This little boy deserved a lifetime of memories, laughter, and love.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n His story is a heartbreaking reminder of how serious measles can be. \ud83d\udc94<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever heard of SSPE before?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At just 7 months old, this little boy survived measles. His family thought the worst was behind them. But years later, the disease returned in a devastating way. \ud83d\udc94 At age 6, the boy began experiencing seizures and cognitive decline. Doctors eventually diagnosed him with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)\u2014a rare, progressive brain disorder that can …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20120,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20118\/revisions\/20120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}