Severe Retinal Whitening in an Adult with Cerebral Malaria

A composite digital photograph of the right retina of a 24-year-old Bangladeshi man with non-fatal cerebral malaria was taken on admission to hospital (Figure 1). He presented with 1 day of unconsciousness, pulmonary edema, and blackwater fever. Peripheral blood parasitemia was 79 Plasmodium falciparum per 1,000 red cells and hemoglobin was 10.9 g/dL. He recovered consciousness within 48 hours of starting intravenous artesunate and was discharged home after 6 days. Visual function and neurologic examination were normal on discharge. Figure 1. Composite digital photograph of the right retina of a 24-year-old man with cerebral malaria and severe malarial retinopathy. This figure appears in color at www.ajtmh.org. The image is comprised of 14 separate photographs taken with a Genesis D (Kowa,…