The Psychiatric Manifestations of Cerebral Malaria
W. WEBSTER BLOCKER JR. M.D.1,
ALBERT J. KASTL JR. PH.D.2, , and
ROBERT B. DAROFF M.D.3
1 Clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
2 Postdoctoral fellow in psychology, Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco, Calif.
3 Special fellow in neuro-ophthalmology, University of California San Francisco Medical Center
During a ten-month period 1,200 U. S. soldiers were admitted to an Army hospital in South Viet Nam with falciparum malaria. Nineteen developed "cerebral malaria," and three of these showed dramatic personality changes manifested as apparent "functional" psychoses. Further evaluation including psychological testing, however, led to the impression that the symptoms had a definite organic basis secondary to cerebral involvement. The authors stress the prognostic implications of differential diagnosis.
