The causes of death and neurological sequelae in African children with cerebral malaria are obscure. Intracranial pressure (ICP) was monitored and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) calculated in 23 Kenyan children with cerebral malaria. Four children had severe intracranial hypertension (ICP > 40 mm Hg, CPP < 40 mm Hg): two died, one with an ICP of 158 mm Hg and signs of transtentorial herniati...

NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that also secrete regulatory cytokines and can therefore influence adaptive immune responses. NK cell function is largely controlled by genes present in a genomic region named the NK complex. It has been shown that the NK complex is a genetic determinant of murine cerebral malaria pathogenesis mediated by Plasmodium berghei ANKA. In this study, we show that NK...

Pathologic studies of central nervous system damage in human falciparum malaria indicate primary localization in the cerebral white matter. We report a sensory-perceptual investigation of 20 Ghanaian children with a recent history of cerebral malaria who were age-, gender-, and education-matched with 20 healthy control subjects. Somatosensory examinations failed to show any evidence of hemianes...

The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of cerebral malaria requires Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia and coma not attributable to convulsions, sedatives, hypoglycemia, or another detectable nonmalarial cause [1]. In a series of elegant autopsy-based studies, Taylor and colleagues demonstrated that as many as 23% of children who meet this WHO definition of cerebral malaria actually die ...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Recently there were reports from all over India about changing spectrum of clinical presentation of severe malaria. The present study was planned to study the same in the northwest India. METHODS This prospective study was conducted on patients of severe malaria admitted in a classified malaria ward of a tertiary care hospital in Bikaner, Rajasthan (northwest India) du...

An American physician-traveler to East Africa presented with manifestations of cerebral malaria and was treated with intravenous quinidine for chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. He later relapsed with Plasmodium ovale infection, despite previous primaquine therapy. Treatment of chloroquine-resistant malaria is discussed. The difficulty in diagnosing P. ovale infections and the predominan...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Literature reports several studies on ABO groups and malaria but a study with an adequate sample size and controls is not available. ABO groups are genetically controlled, hence, large sample size and comparison with population frequency is essential. To determine whether malaria infection with variable severity has correlation with ABO groups. STUDY DESIGN & METHODS B...

BACKGROUND We aimed to reveal the role of CD11b and hypoxia-inducible factors-1alpha (HIF-1α) expressions on monocytes and alveolar macrophages of lung tissue, and the levels of serum surfactant protein-D (SP-D) in severe malaria-associated acute lung injury (ALI). METHODS The C57BL/6 mice were divided into control group, renal malaria group (inoculated with 106Plasmodium berghei ANKA), and c...

Biochemical evidence of skeletal muscle damage is common in malaria, but rhabdomyolysis appears to be rare. To investigate the relationship between serum creatine kinase and myoglobin levels, muscle histology, and renal function in Plasmodium falciparum infections, we studied 13 patients with uncomplicated malaria, 13 with severe noncerebral malaria, and 10 with cerebral malaria. A muscle biops...

Cerebral malaria is associated with decreased production of nitric oxide and decreased levels of its precursor, l-arginine. Abnormal amino acid metabolism may thus be an important factor in malaria pathogenesis. We sought to determine if other amino acid abnormalities are associated with disease severity in falciparum malaria. Subjects were enrolled in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (children) (n = 12...