A report on Malaria and Plasmodium

Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell
Main symptoms of malaria
Plasmodium is a eukaryote but with unusual features.
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.
Life cycle of a species that infects humans
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.
Ring forms of Plasmodium inside human red blood cells (Giemsa stain)
Electron micrograph of a Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell (center), illustrating adhesion protein "knobs"
Sporozoites, one of several different forms of the parasite, from a mosquito
The blood film is the gold standard for malaria diagnosis.
Oldest mosquito fossil with Plasmodium dominicana, 15-20 million year old
Ring-forms and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in human blood
Many birds, from raptors to passerines like the red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus), can carry malaria.
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.
A clinic for treating human malaria in Tanzania
Man spraying kerosene oil in standing water, Panama Canal Zone, 1912
Over 3000 species of lizard, including the Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis), carry some 90 kinds of malaria.
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 mosquito Anopheles stephensi is among the blood-feeding insects that can be infected by a species of Plasmodium.
A mosquito net in use.
An advertisement for quinine as a malaria treatment from 1927.
Deaths due to malaria per million persons in 2012
Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009
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
Malaria clinic in Tanzania
Child with malaria in Ethiopia
World War II poster
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

The ensuing destruction of host red blood cells can result in malaria.

- Plasmodium

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

- Malaria
Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell

18 related topics with Alpha

Overall

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.

Plasmodium vivax

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Protozoal parasite and a human pathogen.

Protozoal parasite and a human pathogen.

This parasite is the most frequent and widely distributed cause of recurring malaria.

They form hypnozoites, a small stage that nestles inside an individual liver cell.

Antimalarial medication

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Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young children and pregnant women.

It has no known effect against hypnozoites therefore is not used in the prevention of relapse.

Plasmodium malariae

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Geographical areas of malaria transmission
As a protist, the plasmodium is a eukaryote of the phylum Apicomplexa. Unusual characteristics of this organism in comparison to general eukaryotes include the rhoptry, micronemes, and polar rings near the apical end. The plasmodium is known best for the infection it causes, malaria.
Plasmodium malariae wiki

Plasmodium malariae is a parasitic protozoan that causes malaria in humans.

Malaria is caused by six Plasmodium species: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale curtisi, Plasmodium ovale wallikeri, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium knowlesi.

Anopheles

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Genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818.

Genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818.

Anopheles egg
Anopheles larva from southern Germany, about 8 mm long
Feeding position of an Anopheles larva (A), compared to that of a nonanopheline mosquito (B)
Resting positions of adult Anopheles (A, B), compared to a nonanopheline mosquito (C)
Key to the morphology of female Anopheles

About 460 species are recognised; while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas.

Plasmodium ovale

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Plasmodium ovale is a species of parasitic protozoa that causes tertian malaria in humans.

It is one of several species of Plasmodium parasites that infect humans including Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax which are responsible for most malarial infection.

Chloroquine

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Medical quinolines
Hemozoin formation in P. falciparum: many antimalarials are strong inhibitors of hemozoin crystal growth.
Resochin tablet package

Chloroquine is a medication primarily used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to its effects.

As an antimalarial, it works against the asexual form of the malaria parasite in the stage of its life cycle within the red blood cell.

Giovanni Battista Grassi

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Grassi Giovanni Battista

Giovanni Battista Grassi (27 March 1854 – 4 May 1925) was an Italian physician and zoologist, best known for his pioneering works on parasitology, especially on malariology.

He was the first to describe and establish the life cycle of the human malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and discovered that only female anopheline mosquitoes are capable of transmitting the disease.

Figure 1. Biosynthesis of Artemisinin

Artemisinin

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Figure 1. Biosynthesis of Artemisinin
Artemisia annua

Artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum.

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are now standard treatment worldwide for P. falciparum malaria as well as malaria due to other species of Plasmodium.

Plasmodium knowlesi

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A diagram of the life cycle of Plasmodium species that infect humans
A Plasmodium knowlesi merozoite attaching to a red blood cell
Giemsa-stained thin blood smears of human red blood cells infected with Plasmodium knowlesi
Robert Knowles, after whom P. knowlesi was named

Plasmodium knowlesi is a parasite that causes malaria in humans and other primates.

Like other Plasmodium species, P. knowlesi has a life cycle that requires infection of both a mosquito and a warm-blooded host.