Pathology and Pathophysiology of Placental Malaria

Abstract

Excerpt: Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes frequently accumulate, often at high densities, in the maternal circulation of the placenta. This also appears to happen, to a more limited extent, with P. vivax infection. Accumulation of infected erythrocytes in the placenta is termed placental malaria and leads to a number of responses in the maternal circulation of the placenta and from the fetal syncytiotrophoblast lining the placenta.Placental tissue can only be studied at delivery, providing a single snapshot of a dynamic process of infection and response. Nevertheless, a series of unique, malaria-specific changes can be found, and this entry reviews the most common abnormalities found on examination of the malaria-infected placenta, relates these changes to pregnancy outcomes, and summarizes current thinking on the relationships between malaria infection in the placenta and placental function.