Could antioxidants reduce the lasting brain damage caused by cerebral malaria?
Citation: Reis PA, Comim CM, Hermani F, Silva B, Barichello T et al. (2010). Cognitive Dysfunction Is Sustained after Rescue Therapy in Experimental Cerebral Malaria, and Is Reduced by Additive Antioxidant Therapy. PLoS Pathog 6(6): e1000963. When, during an attack of malaria, the parasite breaches the blood–brain barrier to cause cerebral malaria (CM), the result is a life-threatening emergency. With timely, appropriate treatment, patients do survive but often they do so with lasting damage to their brain, resulting in a loss of mental function. Studies have shown that the lives of many African children have been blighted in this way; for example, Boivin et al. [4] found that 21% of children with CM had cognitive deficits six months after discharge. Improving the treatment of CM so that cognitive damage is minimized should, therefore, be a priority area for research. Brazilian research, using mice, now suggests that administering antioxidants along with standard malaria treatment coul
