MSUCOM Professor Publishes New Malaria Study

February 13, 2004

Terrie Taylor, D.O., a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, has co-authored a new study published in the February edition of the journal Nature Medicine. The study looks at the frequent misdiagnosis of cerebral malaria and suggests ways to improve the treatment of malaria patients.

The study was developed through Dr. Taylor's work with the Blantyre Malaria Project in Blantyre, Malawi. A brief description of the article and a link to the text follow.

Cerebral malaria often misdiagnosed

"A study by Terrie Taylor and colleagues in the February issue of Nature Medicine has new implications for diagnosing cerebral malaria.

Cerebral malaria is a severe, sometimes fatal, form of malaria affecting the brain; it occurs when malaria-infected red blood cells clog blood vessels in the brain--a process called sequestration. Malaria-infected individuals that become comatose are diagnosed with cerebral malaria if their coma cannot be explained by meningitis, convulsions or hypoglycemia.

Taylor and colleagues looked at the brains of 31 children who were thought to have died from cerebral malaria and, surprisingly, found no evidence of parasite sequestration in more than 20% of the patients--meaning they had actually died of other causes.

The authors found that the only way to distinguish 'real' cerebral malaria from nonmalarial coma in the clinic--without doing an autopsy--is to examine the patient for an eye disorder called retinopathy. These findings, suggest the authors, will be important for correctly identifying cerebral malaria patients for future clinical trials."

To read the full article, visit the Nature Medicine Web site at:

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nm/journal/v10/n2/abs/nm986.html