View an illustration about the life cycle of the malaria
parasite. The incidence of malaria increases in areas, like
Malawi, where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures.
NIAID grantee Terrie Taylor, D.O., Distinguished Professor of
Internal Medicine, Michigan State University, is an osteopathic
physician who spends each rainy season working at Queen
Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi, where she treats patients
with malaria, most of them children under the age of 5, who
suffer from cerebral malaria. The most severe form of the
disease, cerebral malaria, causes coma and sometimes death.
Other diseases such as yellow fever and encephalitis mimic its
symptoms. Adding to the diagnostic challenges faced by
physicians, malaria infection does not always cause symptoms,
especially among people in heavily affected countries who
develop partial immunity. To look at the damage malaria does to
a child, Dr. Taylor and colleagues study the child’s brain. Dr.
Taylor has found that 25 percent of children who were