Ten-year-old Paul B. Morris Junior had been unwell with malaria for a number of days. His grandmother had taken him to a local hospital, and he’d been prescribed medicine, but he continued to complain that he felt sick. Then he fell unconscious.
Paul’s grandmother rang his mother Lydia, in distress. “Paul fell off!”, she exclaimed. Lydia raced home. “I met him at the back of the house, lying down, you know, [his body] jerking”, she says, a tell-tale sign that the malaria was not only severe, but possibly already affecting his brain.
Malaria, spread by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito, is the number one cause of illness and death in the west African country of Liberia. Malaria occurs year-round, and people can suffer repeated attacks throughout their life. If left untreated, or not treated properly, malaria can cause severe and life-threatening complications, especially in children. Cerebral malaria is one of the most dangerous.