Library · Microorganism
Plasmodium
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Plasmodium is the parasite that causes malaria, and it reaches people through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Its life cycle is split into several stages, and that is the key to the disease.
The bite releases sporozoites into the blood, the form the parasite travels in. In under an hour they reach the liver and get inside the hepatocytes, which are the liver cells. There they divide and produce merozoites, another form of the parasite, which head back out into the blood and now invade the erythrocytes, the red blood cells. The parasite stops over in the liver before settling into the red blood cells.
Inside the red blood cell the parasite feeds on hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen, matures, and ends up rupturing the cell. Because that cycle repeats to a rhythm of its own, malaria produces the cyclical fevers that characterize it.
In brief
Plasmodium is the parasite that causes malaria, an infection spread by the Anopheles mosquito, and it has a multistage life cycle.
The bite releases sporozoites into the blood; in under an hour they reach the liver, invade hepatocytes, and divide into merozoites that later return to the blood and invade erythrocytes.
The parasite stops over in the liver before settling into the red blood cells.
Inside the erythrocyte they consume hemoglobin and mature until the cell ruptures, and that repeating cycle explains malaria's characteristic cyclical fevers.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingMalaria, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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