Periodic paralysis complicating malaria

Abstract

Episodic muscular weakness, commonly associated with alterations of serum potassium, is the cardinal feature of periodic paralysis. The combination of transient hyperkalaemia and rigors occurring during febrile episodes of malaria is suggested as the underlying cause which precipitated the muscular paralysis. Three patients with malaria who developed a similar paralysis during the paroxysms of fever are described to illustrate this. © 1981 The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.