QUESTION What are the causes of malaria? ANSWER Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and … [Read more...]
Classification of Malaria
QUESTION Classification of malaria ANSWER Malaria is caused by a single celled protist of the genus Plasmodium. This genus is part of a Phylum of single-celled protist organisms called Apicomplexa. The Apicomplexans mostly posses an organ called an apicoplast, which is part of an apical structure designed to aid entry into a host cell. The Apicomplexa is split into two Classes, of … [Read more...]
Malaria Transmission
QUESTION How is malaria transmitted? ANSWER Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they … [Read more...]
Malaria Origins
QUESTION What is the origin of malaria? ANSWER Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium. There are five difference species of Plasmodium which infect humans - these all likely evolved from various different species of Plasmodium which infect other primates, such as gorillas (for P. falciparum) and macaques (P. vivax, P. knowlesi, possibly other types as well). … [Read more...]
What is Malaria?
QUESTION what is malaria? ANSWER Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite, of the genus Plasmodium, that infects a certain type of mosquito (of the genus Anopheles) which feeds on humans. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Four kinds of malaria parasites can infect humans: Plasmodium … [Read more...]
What is malaria and when was it discovered?
QUESTION What is malaria and when was it diagnosed? ANSWER Malaria is a disease caused by a single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium. Five types of malaria infect humans: P. falciparum, P. ovale, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. It was first observed in the blood of a patient who had died of malaria in 1880 by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician working in … [Read more...]
Malaria Host Range
QUESTION What are the Host range? ANSWER Malaria is caused by a parasite, of the genus Plasmodium, which requires two organisms for the completion of its life cycle—an insect, which is usually referred to as the "vector," in which sexual reproduction occurs, and a vertebrate "host," in which asexual multiplication occurs. Different species of Plasmodium infects a large range of … [Read more...]
What is Malaria
QUESTION What is malaria? ANSWER Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite, of the genus Plasmodium, that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito (of the genus Anopheles) which feeds on humans. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Four kinds of malaria parasites can infect humans: Plasmodium … [Read more...]
Malaria Life Cycle
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 … [Read more...]
Scientific Name of Malaria
QUESTION what is the scientific name of malaria? ANSWER Malaria is caused by a single celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium. Five species infect humans, and their scientific names are Plasmodium falciparum (the most severe and deadly kind), P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. … [Read more...]