Cause: People get malaria by being bitten by an infected female Anopheles mosquito
Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a biting an infected person
Symptoms:
- Fever
- Flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness.
- Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes)
- Kidney failure,
- Seizures,
- Mental confusion,
- Coma
- Death
Treatment: Malaria can be cured with prescription drugs.
Prevention:
- Awareness of risk.
- Avoid mosquito bites
- mosquito repellent cream
- Mosquito nets
- Preventive medicines
In humans, the parasites grow and multiply first in the liver cells and then in the red cells of the blood. In the blood, successive broods of parasites grow inside the red cells and destroy them, releasing daughter parasites ("merozoites") that continue the cycle by invading other red cells.
Upon maturation, the infected liver cells burst, sending the merozoites into the bloodstream, where they invade red blood cells. Within the red blood cells, they reproduce further, developing into trophozoites, another form of plasmodium, and gametocytes - available to be ingested by the next mosquito and thus renew the transmission cycle.
Malaria Parasites
P. falciparum. This species, predominant in Africa, produces the most severe symptoms and is responsible for most malaria deaths.
P. vivax. This species, found mostly in tropical areas of Asia, produces less severe symptoms but can remain in the body (liver) and cause relapses for up to three years.
P. malariae. This species is found in Africa. It can cause typical malaria symptoms but on rare occasions can remain in the bloodstream for years without producing symptoms. In these cases, an infected person may still pass on the parasite to a mosquito or to another person through a blood transfusion.
P. ovale. This species is mostly found in West Africa. Although rare, it can also cause relapses.
