Combination therapy with intraventricular interferon-α and ribavirin for subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and monitoring measles virus RNA by quantitative PCR assay

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that leads to death within a few years. Recently, it has been reported that combination therapy with intraparenchymal interferon-α (INF-α) and intraventricular ribavirin is effective. An 11-year-old SSPE patient whose clinical symptoms progressed rapidly, was treated first with intraventricular INF-α and then with combined intraventricular INF-α and ribavirin therapy. To monitor viral load over the course of the therapy, measles virus RNA was quantified using a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Measles virus RNA decreased rapidly after the INF-α therapy was started, paralleling the decrease in the measles antibody titer in the cerebrospinal fluid and the improvement in the neurological disability. After intraventricular ribavirin was combined with INF-α therapy, no further improvement was observed. The neurological disability gradually progressed, although the amount of virus RNA remained low.