Question: What tissues,organs and/or body systems are affected by malaria? Answer: The malaria parasite is transmitted through blood and has an immediate effect on red blood cells. The most common symptoms of malaria including fever, are caused when the parasites invade red blood cells (erythrocytes) and rupture. However, there are five species of the Plasmodium parasite that cause … [Read more...]
Abdominal Pain in Malaria
QUESTION What is the cause of abdominal pain in malaria? ANSWER Often, abdominal pain in malaria occurs in the early stages of malaria infection (first week or so) and can be caused by the rapid enlargement of the liver and spleen as they become inflamed. During malaria infection, and particularly that with Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly and severe form of malaria, large numbers … [Read more...]
Classification of Malaria Parasite
QUESTION What is the 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 … [Read more...]
Causes of Malaria
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...]
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...]
How Long Does it Take for Malaria to Affect the Body?
QUESTION How long does malaria take to actually affect you? ANSWER When you are bitten by a mosquito that is infected with the parasites that cause malaria, some of the parasites enter your blood stream in the mosquito's saliva. After that, it will take at least one week, and usually between two and four weeks, before you start to feel the symptoms of the disease. This is because the … [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...]
Malaria Parasite Classification
QUESTION What is the 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 … [Read more...]
Malaria Infectious?
QUESTION Is malaria infectious? ANSWER Yes, malaria is considered an infectious disease, though it is very rarely transmitted directly between people, and virtually all of the time must be transmitted via the bite of a mosquito (of the genus Anopheles). Because part of the life cycle of malaria occurs in red blood cells in the human host, if sufficient amounts of blood are shared … [Read more...]
Life Cycle of Malaria
QUESTION Why does the malaria parasite first enter the liver? ANSWER The malaria parasite enters the liver in order to transform from a sporozoite (which can infect liver cells) to a merozoite, which is capable of infecting red blood cells. Both stages also include a proliferation step, but in the blood, the merozoites are also able to differentiate into gametocytes, which are then taken … [Read more...]