QUESTION: What is the introduction of malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is introduced into the human host via mosquitoes, who pass the parasite into the human blood stream through their mouthparts as they take a blood meal. Since the development of both the mosquito and the parasite are temperature-dependent, and tend to favour warm, humid conditions (mosquito larvae require pools of still water … [Read more...]
How does malaria spread?
QUESTION: How does malaria spread? ANSWER: Malaria is a vector-borne disease; this means that it has to be spread through a "vector" species, which in this case are female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The female mosquito needs to feed on blood in order to produce eggs; most species lay eggs every 2-3 days, which means each female mosquito needs to take very regular blood … [Read more...]
What is malaria? What Causes Malaria?
QUESTIONS: What is malaria? What causes malaria? ANSWER: I have copied below the text from an earlier question, also asking about the causes of malaria and explaining what it is: Malaria is a disease caused by a parasitic single-celled animal known as Plasmodium. There are different species of Plasmodium, which cause different kinds of malaria. The main types which infect humans … [Read more...]
How does malaria infect the body?
QUESTION: How does malaria infect the body? ANSWER: Malaria is transmitted to humans via certain species of mosquito. The parasite that causes malaria, called Plasmodium (there are several species, which cause slightly different forms of the disease), lives in the saliva of the mosquito and is introduced into the human blood when the mosquito bites through the skin. It is interesting to … [Read more...]