QUESTION How can you get infected with malaria? ANSWER Malaria is transmitted directly via the bite of an infected mosquito. Only certain female mosquitoes, of the genus Anopheles, can carry malaria. The mosquito picks up the malaria parasite (there are five different types of malaria that infect humans, though all are transmitted in exactly the same way) when it feeds on the blood of an … [Read more...]
Pathophysiology of Malaria
QUESTION What is the pathophysiology of malaria? ANSWER Malaria causes disease through a number of pathways, which depend to a certain extent on the species. Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium; there are five species which infect humans, being Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. All these species are introduced into … [Read more...]
White Blood Cells and Malaria
QUESTION Does malaria cause loss of white blood cells / antibodies? ANSWER The parasites that cause malaria reproduce in the human host by infecting red blood cells, then multiplying asexually and bursting out into the bloodstream, ready to infect more red blood cells. As such, malaria parasites do not destroy white blood cells. However, patients with malaria may display reduced white … [Read more...]