Mystery behind how malaria kills kids unraveled

In a breakthrough study, scientists have unraveled how malaria kills children every minute. While medical researchers have successfully developed effective drugs to kill the malaria parasite, efforts to treat the effects of the disease have not been as successful.

Now, Michigan State University's Dr. Terrie Taylor and her team have discovered the cause of death in children with cerebral malaria, the deadliest form of the disease.

Taylor said that they found kids with the disease develop massively swollen brains, as it is forced out through the bottom of the skull and compresses the brain stem. This pressure causes the children to stop breathing and die.

She said that since they now knew the reason, they could work on finding new treatments.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.