Today's Malady: The Timebomb in Your Brain

You're a small child when the clock begins ticking.

Years and years later, you've forgotten all about those few boring, housebound, feverish days of your childhood, when you were kept occuppied by videos and PlayStation games.

You're a teenager when you notice that you lose a few words here and there. Or perhaps your memory isn't what it used to be.

It will progress until you fall into a coma from which you will never awaken.

You are one of those unlucky measles survivors who has gone on to develop subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

SSPE is caused by infection with a mutant form of the measles virus (rubeola).

Unfortunately, all diagnosed with it (and it's not an easy diagnosis), die - this boy was among the unlucky ones to contract this condition which is relatively rare in developed nations.

A heartbreaking true case of SSPE is featured in the book The Woman With the Worm In Her Head by Dr. Pam Nagami, who describes her experience diagnosing and managing SSPE in a young woman who had first contracted measles prior to her adoption, while a young orphan in India. It would seem that many cases of SSPE in the United States occur among adoptees who contracted the initial infection abroad.