Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in Southern Africa.

A first attempt to gather the available information on subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in Southern Africa has produced records of 79 cases which have occurred since 1955. An important feature of the epidemiology is the clustering of 48 cases in the 5-year period 1970-1974. Thirty of these patients were resident in the Cape Province, and most of them were from the Coloured community. An SSPE registry will be maintained at the MRC Virus Research Unit of the University of Cape Town and an appeal is made to all practitioners to contribute any relevant data on patients with this disease.