Global & Disaster Medicine

Cerebral Malaria: New study reveals the processes that lead to fatal outcomes

NIH

“…..as red blood cells containing the parasite adhere to cerebral blood vessels (a hallmark of Cerebral Malaria), the immune system attempts to clean them off.  Despite these efforts, endothelial cells making up the walls of cerebral blood vessels shed bits of the parasite, which CD8+ T cells recognize, causing those immune cells to attach to and attack the vessels. Once the CD8+T cells amassed on the surface of brain blood vessels, the vessels began to leak. The subsequent leaking led to swelling and increased pressure in the brain, which was fatal. ….”


Comments are closed.

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives

Admin