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Updated: May 16, 2026
In Vivo Tracking of Edema Development and Microvascular Pathology in a Model of Experimental Cerebral Malaria Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: June 8, 2017
Seasonal differences in retinopathy-negative versus retinopathy-positive cerebral malaria
Douglas G Postels1, Gretchen L Birbeck, Clarissa Valim
1Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology, Michigan State University, International Neurologic and Psychiatric Epidemiology Program, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. douglas.postels@ht.msu.edu
Abstract:
Children with traditionally defined cerebral malaria (CM) can be subcategorized by the presence or absence of malaria retinopathy. We retrospectively reviewed the seasonal pattern of retinopathy status in patients admitted with CM in Blantyre, Malawi from 1997 to 2010. The proportion of children with CM who were retinopathy-positive was significantly greater during the peak seasonal rains when the community incidence of uncomplicated malaria is higher. This finding supports the hypothesis that retinopathy-negative and retinopathy-positive CM categories have different underlying etiologies.
