Several neurological manifestations of malaria have been reported. Cerebral form of malaria because of severe falciparum infection is the most common and potentially life threatening neurological complication. In this article an updated account of cerebral malaria and other important neurological manifestations of the disease have been discussed. Cerebral Malaria Cerebral malaria is characterized by unarousable coma. Loss of consciousness can develop very rapidly, most of the patients being in deep coma by the time they reach the hospital.
Convulsions are frequent, especially in children.
Few patients may have status epilepticus. For the diagnosis of cerebral malaria, coma should persist for more than 30 minutes after a generalized seizure to differentiate it from post-ictal coma. Localizing signs are observed infrequently, but in severe cases there may be generalized hypertonia, opisthotonous, posturing and bruxism. Glasgow coma scale in adults and its modification Blantyre scale in children is useful in categorizing the level of unconsciousness in cases with cerebral malaria. A variety of neuro-ophthalmological signs could be elicited.