Severity of retinopathy parallels the degree of parasite sequestration in the eyes and brains of malawian children with fatal cerebral malaria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Malarial retinopathy (MR) has diagnostic and prognostic value in children with Plasmodium falciparum cerebral malaria (CM). A clinicopathological correlation between observed retinal changes during life and the degree of sequestration of parasitized red blood cells was investigated in ocular and cerebral vessels at autopsy.

Methods

In 18 Malawian children who died from clinically defined CM, we studied the intensity of sequestration and the maturity of sequestered parasites in the retina, in nonretinal ocular tissues, and in the brain.

Results

Five children with clinically defined CM during life had other causes of death identified at autopsy, no MR, and scanty intracerebral sequestration. Thirteen children had MR and died from CM. MR severity correlated wi

SUBMITTER: Barrera V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4442623 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature