Compulsive behavior and coprolalia after cerebral malaria

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Idro, Richard | Maling, Samuel | Byarugaba, Justus

Affiliations: Departments of Pediatrics, Kampala, Uganda | Departments of Psychiatry, Kampala, Uganda

Note: [] Correspondence: Richard Idro, M.D., Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Makerere University Medical School/Mulago Hospital, P.O. Box 7051, Kampala, Uganda. Tel.: +256 41 531875; Fax: +256 41 530022; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Neuro-pyschiatric symptoms such as chorea, tics, and obsessive-compulsive disorders have been documented with group A, beta-hemolytic Streptococcus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Herpes simplex infections, presumably through autoimmune damage to basal ganglia. No such association has previously been described with parasitic infections. We present a child who developed compulsive behavior and coprolalia after recovery from cerebral malaria.

Keywords: compulsive disorder, coprolalia, cerebral malaria

Journal: Journal of Pediatric Neurology, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 107-108, 2005