Clinical Manifestations of Cerebral Malaria

Malaria is clinically characterized by paroxysmal attacks of fever, and periodic, accompanied by anemia, enlargement of the spleen and sometimes with pernicious complications such as jaundice, diarrhea, black water fever, acute tubular necrosis, and cerebral malaria.

In parasitology known 4 genus Plasmodium, the clinical characteristics of different forms of the fever, namely:

1. Plasmodium vivax, clinically known as benign tertian malaria caused the fever attacks that arise every 3 days.
2. Plasmodium malariae, also known clinically as well as Malaria Quartana arising because of the fever attacks every 4 days.
3. Plasmodium ovale, clinically known as Malaria ovale, with no fever typical pattern every 2-1 days.
4. Plasmodium falciparum, clinically known as Malaria tropicana or malignant tertian malaria causes the fever attacks which usually occur every 3 days with more severe symptoms than other species of plasmodium infection.

Cerebral malaria is a severe complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection, which indicated a very high fever, impaired consciousness, seizures which mainly occurs in children, hemiplegia and ends in death if not immediately addressed.

The clinical presentation of cerebral malaria is characterized by:

1. Prodromal phase: Patients complain of pain, myalgia, fever, intermittent and sometimes chills, and headache.
2. Acute phase: the symptoms become more severe with the onset of complications such as severe headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing up blood, disturbance of consciousness, fainting, seizures, hemiplegi and can lead to death. In this acute phase of the physical examination will be found diverging eye cornea, anemia, jaundice, purpura, but there were no signs of meningeal stimuli.

Clinical symptoms that occur in cerebral malaria disproportionately among children and adults.