A Literature Review of Clinical Characteristics of Cerebral Malaria

Abstract

Malaria is a disease transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito and caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium. Malaria infection has several manifestations with cerebral malaria (CM) being the most severe neurological complication and a leading cause of malaria death. Cerebral malaria is characterized by a coma at least 1 hour after a seizure or a hypoglycemia, asexual forms of Plasmodium falciparum on peripheral blood smears, with the absence of any other causes of coma. This definition is quite vague in practice, thus making an accurate identification of clinical characteristics of cerebral malaria necessary in diagnosis to help reducing malaria deaths. This article is to summarize the medical literature to clarify the clinical characteristics of cerebral malaria.