A patient with malaria may demonstrate signs of abnormal behavior or frank psychosis. The patient should be carefully evaluated for possible causes.
Possible Cause |
Feature |
exacerbation of a pre-existing psychotic disorder |
history of previous psychotic disorder |
cerebral malaria |
altered level of consciousness or other signs of cerebral involvement; tends to last only a few days |
viral encephalitis |
possible exposure, serologic or virologic findings, skin rash or other findings, other neurologic findings |
anti-malarial medication |
reverses after drug discontinuation |
other medication |
reverses after drug discontinuation |
alcohol withdrawal or psychosis |
history of alcohol abuse |
stress-related psychiatric disorder |
past history of psychiatric disorder; severe stress (warfare, travel or weather related, etc) |
Although anti-malarial drugs may be associated with psychiatric reactions it is important to exclude other causes before assuming this is the sole cause.
Specialty: Infectious Diseases