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Malaria kills 1 to 2 million people annually, mostly children younger than 5 years. Of the four plasmodium species, Plasmodium falciparum causes more than 70% of malaria infections in sub-Saharan Africa and 50% of malaria cases in the U.S. Idro and colleagues report on the incidence, clinical features, and outcomes of neurologic involvement in 19,560 Kenyan children younger than 14 who were hospitalized with acute falciparum malaria over a 13-year period.
Neurologic involvement — defined as seizures, agitation, prostration, or impaired consciousness — occurred in 47.6%, most commonly in children younger than 5, with a peak incidence in the first year of life. Seizures were the most common neurologic symptom, occurring in 37.5%; 22.0% had sta…