Kayla Kluver
University of
Minnesota
30 July 2008
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that cerebral malaria is
related to long-term cognitive impairment in one of four child survivors. The
research is published in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Malaria is a leading cause of death for children in sub-Saharan Africa. Cerebral
malaria, which affects more than 750,000 children a year, is one of the
deadliest forms of malaria. It only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to
contract the disease that directly affects the brain, causing fever, vomiting,
chills, and coma.
"Children with cerebral malaria recover quite dramatically if they survive the
period of coma," said Chandy John, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at
the University of Minnesota and principal investigator of the study. "But before
this study, no one had prospectively assessed what happened to their thinking in
the years after they had the cerebral malaria episode."
John worked with Michael Boivin, Ph.D., M.P.H., an expert in neuropsychology
from Michigan State University, to evaluate cognitive function in children 5-12
years old with cerebral malaria who had been admitted to the Mulago Hospital,
Kampala, Uganda. The children were evaluated for cognitive function in three
major areas: attention, working memory, and tactile learning. Evaluation was
done at hospitalization, six months after the initial malaria episode, and two
years after the episode.
John and Boivin found that at six months, 21 percent of children with cerebral
malaria had cognitive impairment compared with 6 percent of their healthy
Ugandan peers. At two years, cognitive impairment was present in 26 percent of
the patients, compared with 8 percent of the community children. These findings
suggest that cognitive impairment may begin to manifest itself months after the
initial episode. Cognitive function was most dramatically impaired in the area
of attention. "The study has major public health implications," John noted. "If
26 pecent of children with cerebral malaria have long-term cognitive impairment,
which means more than 200,000 children a year may have significant long-term
brain injury because of cerebral malaria."
John and Boivin are currently conducting a new study in Uganda to look at how
the body's response to malaria infection may be leading to brain injury. "If we
can determine what is causing the brain injury, we can design and test
interventions to prevent the injury," John said.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Minnesota,
Makerere University in Uganda, and Michigan State University. The study was
funded by the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center, the
University of Minnesota, and a Fulbright African Regional Research Award.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/116634.php