A report on Anemia, Malaria and Red blood cell

Blood smear showing iron-deficiency anemia, with small, pale red blood cells.

Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell

Scanning electron micrograph of human red blood cells (ca. 6–8 μm in diameter)

There is an immense size variation in vertebrate red blood cells, as well as a correlation between cell and nucleus size. Mammalian red blood cells, which do not contain nuclei, are considerably smaller than those of most other vertebrates.

The hand of a person with severe anemia (on the left, with ring) compared to one without (on the right)

The life cycle of malaria parasites. Sporozoites are introduced by a mosquito bite. They migrate to the liver, where they multiply into thousands of merozoites. The merozoites infect red blood cells and replicate, infecting more and more red blood cells. Some parasites form gametocytes, which are taken up by a mosquito, continuing the life cycle.

Figure shows normal red blood cells flowing freely in a blood vessel. The inset image shows a cross-section of a normal red blood cell with normal hemoglobin.

Micrograph of a placenta from a stillbirth due to maternal malaria. H&E stain. Red blood cells are anuclear; blue/black staining in bright red structures (red blood cells) indicate foreign nuclei from the parasites.

Peripheral blood smear microscopy of a patient with iron-deficiency anemia

Electron micrograph of a Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell (center), illustrating adhesion protein "knobs"

Scanning electron micrograph of blood cells. From left to right: human red blood cell, thrombocyte (platelet), leukocyte.

A Giemsa-stained blood film from a person with iron-deficiency anemia. This person also had hemoglobin Kenya.

The blood film is the gold standard for malaria diagnosis.

Two drops of blood are shown with a bright red oxygenated drop on the left and a deoxygenated drop on the right.

Ring-forms and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in human blood

Animation of a typical human red blood cell cycle in the circulatory system. This animation occurs at a faster rate (~20 seconds of the average 60-second cycle) and shows the red blood cell deforming as it enters capillaries, as well as the bars changing color as the cell alternates in states of oxygenation along the circulatory system.

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito shortly after obtaining blood from a human (the droplet of blood is expelled as a surplus). This mosquito is a vector of malaria, and mosquito control is an effective way of reducing its incidence.

The most common red blood cell membrane lipids, schematically disposed as they are distributed on the bilayer. Relative abundances are not at scale.

Man spraying kerosene oil in standing water, Panama Canal Zone, 1912

Red blood cell membrane proteins separated by SDS-PAGE and silverstained

Walls where indoor residual spraying of DDT has been applied. The mosquitoes remain on the wall until they fall down dead on the floor.

Affected by Sickle-cell disease, red blood cells alter shape and threaten to damage internal organs.

An advertisement for quinine as a malaria treatment from 1927.

Effect of osmotic pressure on blood cells

Deaths due to malaria per million persons in 2012

Micrographs of the effects of osmotic pressure

Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009

Variations of red blood cell shape, overall termed poikilocytosis.

Ancient malaria oocysts preserved in Dominican amber

British doctor Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria.

Chinese medical researcher Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for her work on the antimalarial drug artemisinin.

Artemisia annua, source of the antimalarial drug artemisinin

U.S. Marines with malaria in a field hospital on Guadalcanal, October 1942

Members of the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations collecting larvae on the Danube delta, 1929

1962 Pakistani postage stamp promoting malaria eradication program

Disability-adjusted life year for malaria per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004
no data
<10
0–100
100–500
500–1000
1000–1500
1500–2000
2000–2500
2500–2750
2750–3000
3000–3250
3250–3500
≥3500

Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin.

- Anemia

Causes of increased breakdown include genetic disorders such as sickle cell anemia, infections such as malaria, and certain autoimmune diseases.

- Anemia

Possible causes include respiratory compensation of metabolic acidosis, noncardiogenic pulmonary oedema, concomitant pneumonia, and severe anaemia.

- Malaria

In the blood, the merozoites rapidly invade individual red blood cells, replicating over 24–72 hours to form 16–32 new merozoites.

- Malaria

Lipid rafts that have been implicated in cell signaling events in nonerythroid cells have been shown in erythroid cells to mediate β2-adregenic receptor signaling and increase cAMP levels, and thus regulating entry of malarial parasites into normal red cells.

- Red blood cell

However, infection with parvoviruses (such as human parvovirus B19) can affect erythroid precursors while they still have DNA, as recognized by the presence of giant pronormoblasts with viral particles and inclusion bodies, thus temporarily depleting the blood of reticulocytes and causing anemia.

- Red blood cell

6 related topics with Alpha

Figure (A) shows normal red blood cells flowing freely through a blood vessel. The inset shows a cross-section of a normal red blood cell with normal haemoglobin. Figure (B) shows abnormal, sickled red blood cells sticking at the branching point in a blood vessel. The inset image shows a cross-section of a sickle cell with long polymerized sickle haemoglobin (HbS) strands stretching and distorting the cell shape to look like a crescent moon.

Sickle cell disease

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Group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents.

Sickle cells in human blood - both normal red blood cells and sickle-shaped cells are present.

Normal blood cells next to a sickle blood cell, coloured scanning electron microscope image

Sickle cell disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern.

Distribution of the sickle cell trait, shown in pink and purple

Historical distribution of malaria (no longer endemic in Europe), shown in green

Base-pair substitution that causes sickle cell anemia

HBB gene (responsible for sickle cell anaemia) is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 11 at position 15.5.

Scanning electron micrograph showing a mixture of red blood cells, some with round normal morphology, some with mild sickling showing elongation and bending

Possible advantage of being heterozygous for sickle cell anemia disease (A) vs. normal blood cell response (B) when infected with malaria

Percentage of newborns screened for sickle cell disease within Metropolitan France from 2006 to 2018

Percentage of newborns screened regionally and overall for sickle cell disease in Metropolitan France in 2018

It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blood cells.

A number of health problems may develop, such as attacks of pain (known as a sickle cell crisis), anemia, swelling in the hands and feet, bacterial infections and stroke.

In 1954, the protective effect against malaria of sickle cell trait was described.

Thalassemia

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Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production.

Left: Hand of a person with severe anemia. Right: Hand of a person without anemia.

Thalassemia has an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance.

Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin).

Those who have minor degrees of thalassemia, similar to those with sickle-cell trait, have some protection against malaria, explaining why they are more common in regions of the world where malaria exists.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

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Most common enzyme deficiency worldwide, is an inborn error of metabolism that predisposes to red blood cell breakdown.

Complications can include anemia and newborn jaundice.

Most people who develop symptoms are male, due to the X-linked pattern of inheritance, but female carriers can be affected due to unfavorable lyonization or skewed X-inactivation, where random inactivation of an X-chromosome in certain cells creates a population of G6PD-deficient red blood cells coexisting with unaffected red blood cells.

A side effect of this disease is that it confers protection against malaria, in particular the form of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria.

Plastic bag with 0.5–0.7 liters containing packed red blood cells in citrate, phosphate, dextrose, and adenine (CPDA) solution

Blood transfusion

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Process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously.

The patient receives a blood transfusion through the cannula

Canned blood during the blood transfusion process

Illustration depicting intravenous blood transfusion

A bag containing one unit of fresh frozen plasma

Interpretation of antibody panel to detect patient antibodies towards the most relevant human blood group systems.

Richard Lower pioneered the first blood transfusion from animal to human in 1665 at the Royal Society.

James Blundell successfully transfused human blood in 1818.

William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (1852–1922) performed one of the first blood transfusions in the United States.

Dr. Luis Agote (2nd from right) overseeing one of the first safe and effective blood transfusions in 1914

World War II Russian syringe for direct inter-human blood transfusion

Alexander Bogdanov established a scientific institute to research the effects of blood transfusion in Moscow, 1925.

British poster of 1944 encouraging people to donate blood for the war effort

Wounded soldier being given blood plasma in Sicily, 1943

Charles R. Drew oversaw the production of blood plasma for shipping to Britain during WW2.

As the person receives their blood transfusion, the bag slowly gets emptier, leaving behind blood that has clotted before it could be administered.

Early transfusions used whole blood, but modern medical practice commonly uses only components of the blood, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, clotting factors and platelets.

The advisory caution to use blood transfusion only with more severe anemia is in part due to evidence that outcomes are worsened if larger amounts are given.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all donated blood be tested for transfusion-transmissible infections. These include HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Treponema pallidum (syphilis) and, where relevant, other infections that pose a risk to the safety of the blood supply, such as Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease) and PlasmodiumPlasmodium species (malaria). According to the WHO, 25 countries are not able to screen all donated blood for one or more of: HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or syphilis. One of the main reasons for this is because testing kits are not always available. However the prevalence of transfusion-transmitted infections is much higher in low income countries compared to middle and high income countries.

Hemolytic anemia

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Hemolytic anemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells (RBCs), either in the blood vessels (intravascular hemolysis) or elsewhere in the human body (extravascular).

Acquired hemolytic anemia is also encountered in burns and as a result of certain infections (e.g. malaria).

Blood smear

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Thin layer of blood smeared on a glass microscope slide and then stained in such a way as to allow the various blood cells to be examined microscopically.

Variations of red blood cell shape on blood film, overall termed poikilocytosis

Blood smears showing various developmental stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, stained with Wright stain and Giemsa stain

Blood smears are examined in the investigation of hematological (blood) disorders and are routinely employed to look for blood parasites, such as those of malaria and filariasis.

These stains allow for the detection of white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet abnormalities.

Microscopic examination of the shape, size, and coloration of red blood cells is useful for determining the cause of anemia.