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Home / Malaria Q&A / Malaria Life Cycle

Malaria Life Cycle

May 29, 2012 By Malaria Q&A Leave a Comment

QUESTION

What is the life cycle of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a single celled organism in the genus Plasmodium. Five species of Plasmodium infect humans, but all follow a very similar life cycle, including two separate cycles of asexual reproduction in the human host (one in the liver, called the exo-erythrocytic cycle, and one in the blood, and specifically inside red blood cells, known as the erythrocytic cycle) and a sexual reproductive stage inside the mosquito definitive host (usually called the “vector”). A schematic of the full life cycle is below, courtesy of the CDC (www.cdc.gov).

malaria life cycle CDC

Schematic of the malaria life cycle, courtesy of CDC (www.cdc.gov)

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: definitive host, erythrocytic cycle, exo-erythrocytic cycle, liver, Malaria life cycle, mosquito, Plasmodium, red blood cells, vector

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