Retina unravels deadly secrets of brain malaria
Johannesburg: The retina in the eye of patients with cerebral malaria has provided scientists with vital clues into why it is so deadly. One of the world's biggest killers, malaria claims over a million lives every year, mainly children and pregnant women in Africa, and adults in southeast Asia. It has been known that cerebral malaria is accompanied by changes in the retina, known as malarial retinopathy, which can be seen by examining the eye. Because the retina can be considered an extension of the central nervous system, it has been used previously as a "window into the brain", allowing swifter diagnosis of cerebral malaria. However, until now it was not clearly understood why the disease should be so deadly. Researchers in Malawi have shown for the first time in patients that the build-up of infected blood cells in the narrow blood vessels of the brain causes a potentially lethal lack of oxygen to the brain. Malaria parasites enter the bloodstream from bites by infect...