Cerebral malaria (CM) and severe malarial anemia (SMA) are the major severe disease syndromes in African children with a high level of mortality in the under-five age group. The current WHO case definitions for severe malaria combine P. falciparum blood stage parasitemia with coma, severe anemia or respiratory distress [10] , and it is well documented that there is significant overlap across these syndromes [11] . Despite the fact that these WHO case definitions are sensitive and useful for clinical diagnosis, the pathogenesis of severe disease is not well understood. One disadvantage of the WHO clinical definitions is that they lack the specificity required to carry out studies aimed at understanding the pathogenesis of clinically different forms of childhood malaria.