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BugBitten
A newly discovered interaction between malaria and brain cells
Recent research leads to a new hypothesis explaining the interaction between malaria parasites and receptors on the cells lining the brain microvasculature when patients have cerebral malaria.
12 Mar 2021
A red blood cell infected with malaria. Source Wikimedia Commons; attribution, Rick Fairhurst and Jordan Zuspann, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
The most severe symptoms of malaria are associated with infection by the malaria parasite,
Plasmodium falciparum, with pathologies including severe anaemia, acute respiratory disease and cerebral malaria. The latter is marked by the sequestration of infected red blood cells (IRBCs) in the brain microcirculation, resulting in blood vessel occlusion, inflammation and brain swelling that can lead to brain stem herniation, causing respiratory failure and death.