Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Causes and Significance of Malarial Retinopathy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Malaria

  • 330 Accesses

Synonyms

Ocular fundus; Pathophysiology

Definition

Malarial retinopathy is a unique constellation of retinal abnormalities associated with clinical cerebral malaria.

History

The first descriptions of retinal hemorrhages in malaria are attributed to Poncet in 1879 (Looareesuwan et al. 1983; Poncet 1879), and the phenomenon was noted by several others in the succeeding years. Looareesuwan noted in 1983 that in adults, hemorrhages were more likely in those with more severe disease, although he did not find a significant association with outcome. (Looareesuwan et al. 1983). A description of the full constellation of retinal findings, including but not limited to hemorrhages, was first published in 1993, when among a group of 56 Malawian children with clinically defined cerebral malaria (CM) the findings were shown to have prognostic significance (Lewallen et al. 1993). The constellation included retinal hemorrhages, abnormal discolored vessels, and white patches (referred to as retinal...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Beare NA, Southern C, Lochhead J, Molyneux ME, Lewallen S, Harding SP. Inter-observer concordance in grading retinopathy in cerebral malaria. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2002;96(1):105–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beare NA, et al. Malarial retinopathy: a newly established diagnostic sign in severe malaria. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2006;75(5):790–7.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beare NAV, Harding SP, Taylor TE, Lewallen S, Molyneux M. Perfusion abnormalities in children with cerebral malaria and malarial retinopathy. J Infect Dis. 2009;199:263–71.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birbeck GL, Beare N, Lewallen S, Glover SJ, Molyneux ME, Kaplan PW, et al. Identification of malaria retinopathy improves the specificity of the clinical diagnosis of cerebral malaria: findings from a prospective cohort study. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010;82(2):231–4.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis TME, Suputtamongkol Y, Spencer JL, Ford S, Chienkul N, Schulenburg WE, et al. Measures of capillary permeability in acute falciparum malaria: relation to severity of infection and treatment. Clin Infect Dis. 1992;15:256–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hero M, Harding SP, Riva CE, Winstanley PA, Peshu N, Marsh K. Photographic and angiographic characterization of the retina of Kenyan children with severe malaria. Arch Ophthalmol. 1997;115:997–1003.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewallen S, Taylor TE, Molyneux ME, Wills BA, Courtright P. Ocular fundus findings in Malawian children with cerebral malaria. Ophthalmology. 1993;100(6):857–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewallen S, Bakker H, Taylor TE, Wills BA, Courtright P, Molyneux ME. Retinal findings predictive of outcome in cerebral malaria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1996;90(2):144–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewallen S, Harding SP, Ajewole J, Schulenburg WE, Molyneux ME, Marsh K, et al. A review of the spectrum of clinical ocular fundus findings in P falciparum malaria in African children with a proposed classification and grading system. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1999;93(6):619–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewallen S, Bronzan RN, Beare NA, Harding SP, Molyneux ME, Taylor TE. Using malarial retinopathy to improve the classification of children with cerebral malaria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2008;102(11):1089–94.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Looareesuwan S, Warrell DA, White NJ, Chanthavanich P, Warrell MJ, Chantaratherakitti S, et al. Retinal hemorrhage, a common sign of prognostic significance in cerebral malaria. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1983;32(5):911–5.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maude RJ, Beare NA, Abu Sayeed A, Chang CC, Charunwatthana P, Faiz MA, et al. The spectrum of retinopahy in adults with Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2009;103(7):665–71.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poncet F De La. Retino-coroidiste palustre. Ann d’Oculistique. 1879; 79:201–218. Cited in: Looareesuwan, et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1983; 32(5):911–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor TE, Fu WJ, Carr RA, Whitten RO, Mueller JS, Fosiko NG, et al. Differentiating the pathologies of cerebral malaria by post-mortem parasite counts. Nat Med. 2004;10(2):143–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White VA, Lewallen S, Beare N, Kayira K, Carr RA, Taylor TE. Correlation of retinal haemorrhages with brain haemorrhages in children dying of cerebral malaria in Malawi. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2001;95(6):618–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White VA, Lewallen S, Beare NA, Molyneux ME, Taylor TE. Retinal pathology of pediatric cerebral malaria in Malawi. PLoS One. 2009;4(1):e4317.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology, Cape Town, South Africa

    Susan Lewallen

  2. St. Pauls Eye Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK

    Nicholas A. V. Beare

  3. Department of Eye and Vision Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Nicholas A. V. Beare

Authors
  1. Susan Lewallen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nicholas A. V. Beare
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Lewallen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heswall, United Kingdom

    Marcel Hommel

  2. Institut für Tropenmedizin, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Peter G. Kremsner

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Lewallen, S., Beare, N.A.V. (2014). Causes and Significance of Malarial Retinopathy. In: Hommel, M., Kremsner, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of Malaria. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8757-9_85-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8757-9_85-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8757-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation