A report on Protozoa, Malaria and Parasitism

Clockwise from top left: Blepharisma japonicum, a ciliate; Giardia muris, a parasitic flagellate; Centropyxis aculeata, a testate (shelled) amoeba; Peridinium willei, a dinoflagellate; Chaos carolinense, a naked amoebozoan; Desmarella moniliformis, a choanoflagellate
Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell
A fish parasite, the isopod Cymothoa exigua, replacing the tongue of a Lithognathus
Class Protozoa, order Infusoria, family Monades by Georg August Goldfuss, c. 1844
Main symptoms of malaria
Head (scolex) of tapeworm Taenia solium, an intestinal parasite, has hooks and suckers to attach to its host
John Hogg's illustration of the Four Kingdoms of Nature, showing "Primigenal" as a greenish haze at the base of the Animals and Plants, 1860
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.
The parasitic castrator Sacculina carcini (highlighted) attached to its crab host
The ciliate Spirostomum ambiguum can attain 3 mm in length
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.
Human head-lice are directly transmitted obligate ectoparasites
Isotricha intestinalis, a ciliate present in the rumen of sheep.
Electron micrograph of a Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell (center), illustrating adhesion protein "knobs"
Clonorchis sinensis, the Chinese liver fluke, is trophically transmitted
Paramecium bursaria, is one example of a variety of freshwater ciliates that host endosymbiont chlorophyte algae from the genus Chlorella
The blood film is the gold standard for malaria diagnosis.
The vector-transmitted protozoan endoparasite Trypanosoma among human red blood cells
Resting cyst of ciliated protozoan Dileptus viridis.
Ring-forms and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in human blood
Mosquitoes are micropredators, and important vectors of disease
Life cycle of parasitic protozoan, Toxoplasma gondii
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.
Life cycle of Entamoeba histolytica, an anaerobic parasitic protozoan transmitted by the fecal–oral route
Trophozoites of the amoebic dysentery pathogen Entamoeba histolytica with ingested human red blood cells (dark circles)
Man spraying kerosene oil in standing water, Panama Canal Zone, 1912
Cuscuta (a dodder), a stem holoparasite, on an acacia tree
Walls where indoor residual spraying of DDT has been applied. The mosquitoes remain on the wall until they fall down dead on the floor.
The honey fungus, Armillaria mellea, is a parasite of trees, and a saprophyte feeding on the trees it has killed.
A mosquito net in use.
Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, is transmitted by Ixodes ticks.
An advertisement for quinine as a malaria treatment from 1927.
Enterobacteria phage T4 is a bacteriophage virus. It infects its host, Escherichia coli, by injecting its DNA through its tail, which attaches to the bacterium's surface.
Deaths due to malaria per million persons in 2012
Restoration of a Tyrannosaurus with holes possibly caused by a Trichomonas-like parasite
Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009
Wolbachia bacteria within an insect cell
Ancient malaria oocysts preserved in Dominican amber
Biologists long suspected cospeciation of flamingos and ducks with their parasitic lice, which were similar in the two families. Cospeciation did occur, but it led to flamingos and grebes, with a later host switch of flamingo lice to ducks.
British doctor Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria.
The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii facilitates its transmission by inducing behavioral changes in rats through infection of neurons in their central nervous system.
Chinese medical researcher Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for her work on the antimalarial drug artemisinin.
Trait loss: bedbug Cimex lectularius is flightless, like many insect ectoparasites.
Artemisia annua, source of the antimalarial drug artemisinin
The dry skin of vertebrates such as the short-horned lizard prevents the entry of many parasites.
U.S. Marines with malaria in a field hospital on Guadalcanal, October 1942
Leaf spot on oak. The spread of the parasitic fungus is limited by defensive chemicals produced by the tree, resulting in circular patches of damaged tissue.
Members of the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations collecting larvae on the Danube delta, 1929
The rescuing from extinction of the California condor was a successful if very expensive project, but its ectoparasite, the louse Colpocephalum californici, was made extinct.
1962 Pakistani postage stamp promoting malaria eradication program
Parasites are distributed very unevenly among their hosts, most hosts having no parasites, and a few hosts harbouring most of the parasite population. This distribution makes sampling difficult and requires careful use of statistics.
Malaria clinic in Tanzania
A plate from Francesco Redi's Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi (Observations on living animals found inside living animals), 1684
Child with malaria in Ethiopia
Ronald Ross won the 1902 Nobel Prize for showing that the malaria parasite is transmitted by mosquitoes. This 1897 notebook page records his first observations of the parasite in mosquitoes.
World War II poster
"An Old Parasite in a New Form": an 1881 Punch cartoon by Edward Linley Sambourne compares a crinoletta bustle to a parasitic insect's exoskeleton
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
Fictional parasitism: oil painting Parasites by Katrin Alvarez, 2011
Idiobiont parasitoid wasps immediately paralyse their hosts for their larvae (Pimplinae, pictured) to eat.
Koinobiont parasitoid wasps like this braconid lay their eggs inside their hosts, which continue to grow and moult.
Phorid fly (centre left) is laying eggs in the abdomen of a worker honey-bee, altering its behaviour.
A hyperparasitoid pteromalid wasp on the cocoons of its host, itself a parasitoid braconid wasp
The large blue butterfly is an ant mimic and social parasite.
In brood parasitism, the host raises the young of another species, here a cowbird's egg, that has been laid in its nest.
The great skua is a powerful kleptoparasite, relentlessly pursuing other seabirds until they disgorge their catches of food.
The male anglerfish Ceratias holboelli lives as a tiny sexual parasite permanently attached below the female's body.
Encarsia perplexa (centre), a parasitoid of citrus blackfly (lower left), is also an adelphoparasite, laying eggs in larvae of its own species

Protozoa (singular protozoon or protozoan, plural protozoa or protozoans) is an informal term for a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris.

- Protozoa

Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes.

- Parasitism

Malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms of the Plasmodium group.

- Malaria

The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood.

- Malaria

Some are harmless or beneficial to their host organisms; others may be significant causes of diseases, such as babesia, malaria and toxoplasmosis.

- Protozoa
Clockwise from top left: Blepharisma japonicum, a ciliate; Giardia muris, a parasitic flagellate; Centropyxis aculeata, a testate (shelled) amoeba; Peridinium willei, a dinoflagellate; Chaos carolinense, a naked amoebozoan; Desmarella moniliformis, a choanoflagellate

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Plasmodium falciparum

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Laveran's drawing of various stages of P. falciparum as seen on fresh blood (1880).
Blood smear from a P. falciparum culture (K1 strain - asexual forms) - several red blood cells have ring stages inside them. Close to the center is a schizont and on the left a trophozoite.
Ring forms in red blood cells (Giemsa stain)
Life cycle of Plasmodium

Plasmodium falciparum is a unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of Plasmodium that causes malaria in humans.