You already know that measles vaccines help to prevent measles outbreaks, right?
But have you seen the chart showing that measles vaccines also work to control SSPE?
Another Chart Showing Measles Vaccines Work - SSPE Edition
It’s another benefit of getting vaccinated and protected and getting measles under control!
After all, SSPE is a fatal condition that typically occurs seven to ten years after you recover from a natural measles infection. Sooner, if you get measles at a younger age, as a newborn or infant.
What else?
If SSPE was caused by the MMR vaccine, as some anti-vaccine influencers claim, then you would expect SSPE to increase as we use MMR, right?
But that’s not what we ever see!
Instead, with increased MMR coverage, measles cases decrease, followed by a decrease in SSPE about seven to ten years later.
Need more proof?
We mainly still see SSPE in those countries that don’t have measles under good control.
“There has been a recent spike in severe and fulminant cases of SSPE in the UK. Between 2022 and 2024, six children in the UK were diagnosed with SSPE. The children were young, with ages ranging from 2 to 7 years and a typical age of 5 years. Symptoms began appearing 2–6 years after the initial infection, with 3 years being the average latency period from infection to symptom onset. Most of the children had been exposed to measles during infancy.”
Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: Recent Advances in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Including developed countries after a large outbreak.
That’s why we have once again seen SSPE cases and deaths in France (2023 and 2026), Italy (2021 and 2025), and the United States (2025).
And that’s another good reason to get vaccinated and protected.
More on SSPE
Another Child Has Died From a Complication of Measles This Past Year
Doctors say a rare but fatal condition linked to measles is rising in Pakistan
Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: Recent Advances in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in a child six years after measles infection