QUESTION:

A child of what age can be affected from cerebral malaria or malaria?

ANSWER:

People of all ages can be affected by malaria, which is what makes it such a public health burden in so many places.

Severe symptoms of the disease, such as the manifestation of cerebral malaria that you mention, can also be seen in children of all ages as well as adults. However, generally, younger children tend to have more serious attacks of malaria, and the disease is most deadly in children under the age of 5, who have not had a chance to build up natural, protective immunity to malaria. This lack of immunity is why malaria is also particularly severe in travellers, who have not been exposed during their childhood. Similarly, changes in the body’s immune response and blood chemistry during pregnancy make pregnant women, no matter what their age, very vulnerable to malaria infection.