A histopathologic study of fatal paediatric cerebral malaria caused by mixed Plasmodium falciparum / Plasmodium vivax infections

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Manning Laurens, Rosanas-Urgell Anna, Laman Moses, Edoni Henry, McLean Catriona, Mueller Ivo, Siba Peter, Davis Timothy ME
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2012
• Subjects: Plasmodium vivax; Post mortem biopsy; PCR; Cerebral malaria; Children; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-107; https://doaj.org/article/3c87a9893b7e4a7b89be59dade4b4807

Abstract Microvascular sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum underlies cerebral malaria. Despite suggestive ex vivo evidence, this phenomenon has not been convincingly demonstrated in coma complicating Plasmodium vivax malaria. Severely-ill Papua New Guinean children with mixed P. falciparum/P. vivax infections are more likely to develop cerebral malaria and die than those with P. falciparum alone, possibly reflecting P. vivax sequestration. Nested PCR was performed on post mortem brain tissue from three such children dying from cerebral malaria due to mixed-species infections. No P. vivax DNA was detected. These findings do not support the hypothesis that P. vivax sequestration occurs in human brain.