We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Prevalence and implications of cerebrospinal fluid leukocytosis in Papua New Guinean children hospitalized with severe malaria.
- Authors
Laman, Moses; Manning, Laurens; Siba, Peter M; Davis, Timothy M E
- Abstract
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leukocytosis in severe malaria was assessed in 87 children in Papua New Guinea participating in a detailed longitudinal observational study who had undergone lumbar puncture for further investigation of altered consciousness and/or convulsions. After rigorous exclusion of non-malarial infection, 16 (20.5%) of 78 children with Plasmodium falciparum monoinfection but 0 of 9 with P. vivax/mixed-species malaria had a detectable CSF leukocytosis, which was unrelated to prior, including complex, seizures. There were eight children with a CSF leukocyte density > 10 cells/μL (9.2% of the total sample), half of whom had cerebral malaria (4 of 22, 18.1%). Cerebrospinal fluid leukocytosis is infrequent in severe pediatric malaria, especially in children with P. vivax infections, and it is generally mild. Its presence in a blood slide-positive child should prompt consideration of alternative diagnoses and empiric antibiotic therapy.
- Publication
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2013, Vol 89, Issue 5, p866
- ISSN
1476-1645
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.4269/ajtmh.13-0281