Do Plasmodium Species Identify As Causal Agents Of Malaria?

Malaria infection is caused by parasitic protozoan plasmodium. Several species of malaria parasites exist but the most fatal known is plasmodium falciparum. It enters the liver and replicates itself by getting into the red blood cell and ripping its way out when fully matured. It was once thought that the US military got close to completely eradicating the vector mosquito through DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and the parasitic plasmodium with vaccines until they discovered that both are capable of mutating and gained the ability to be resistant to any chemicals scientists could produce (Horizon, 2005).

Malaria has been a major life-threatening disease for thousands of years, and continues to threaten millions of lives around the world. It infects approximately 219 million people each year, mostly poor women and children. What is striking about malaria is the fact that it has the worse effect on those with the least ability to fight the disease. The Republic of Cuba believes that malaria prevention, treatment, and research efforts must be accelerated to eliminate the burden of this disease across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and any country or territory at risk of malaria transmissions.

Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan parasite. It is unique of the class of Plasmodium that is the foundation and cause malaria in individuals. There are other Plasmodium species that can cause malaria in humans. Nevertheless P. falciparum is the most common, virulent, and deadly. P. falciparum communicable by the female Anopheles mosquito.

Mosquitoes pass malaria to humans through their salivary glands. Once the parasites have entered the blood stream, they go to the liver. In the liver they mature and undergo reproduction, forming merozoites. These merozoites enter the blood stream and inject themselves into red blood cells. Once inside the blood cells, they reproduce rapidly and within forty-eight to seventy-two hours, the blood cell bursts, releasing hemoglobin into the blood stream. It is the destruction of these blood cells and the hemoglobin released into the blood stream that actually causes most of the symptoms.

Zika virus - little bites, big results. Everyone has been bitten by a mosquito at least once in their life and nobody likes it. But what’s worse is being bitten by an Aedis species mosquito infected with Zika. Even though it is is not expected to find the zika virus in New York, pesticides should still be sprayed for the safety and benefit of the residents here.

In Kenya, an African country that is affected by Plasmodium falciparum, the most aggressive of the four species of malaria, the negative economic impact of malaria can be clearly seen. Malaria-related GDP losses reached 2-6% of the total economic output of the country, with 58% of those losses being in the agricultural sector and 7% in the industrial sector (Chima, 2003). When workers or their children contract malaria, they are unable to go to work, work effectively, or spend money on things other than treatment (Chima, 2003). In other words, malaria acts as a drain on both the productivity of a country, as often there is no other person available to take the place of the absent worker. Furthermore, the costs of finding alternates to replace workers who have fallen ill, or must take care of their children is placed squarely on the shoulders of businesses, while the individual who contracted malaria, or must care for someone who has malaria is unable to both earn money for their absent days, as well as spend money in areas other than the treatment of malaria, thus stimulation only a small portion of the economy, and effectively blocking the circulation of funds in the economy to their fullest extent (Chima, 2003).

After the infecting agent gets into the human’s bloodstream they invade the liver within an hour; the parasite then takes about 15 days to mature(Collins, Jeffery, E.). The infecting agent divides and forms plasmodium merozoites which are then released into the bloodstream and infect red blood cells(“Plasmodium”). The plasmodium is an oval-shaped cell, measured at about .00006 inches long and .00004 inches wide. Plasmodium has a pellicular cisterna which makes up the golgi apparatus. The apparatus receives materials and sends them to other parts of the cell. The plasma membrane forms the external boundary and the merozoite coat acts like the cell membrane which lets things in and out of the cell. It has an apicoplast that allows the parasite to invade host cells, and microtubules that work with the inner membrane to give bulkiness to the cell. The micronemes help the cell invade the host, and the polar rings, apical end, rhoptries and dense granules all help it invade the cell. Plasmodium also has some things in common with animal or human cells: a nucleus, ribosomes, and a mitochondria(“Structure of Plasmodium

and by anemia, splenomegaly, acidosis, and a chronic relapsing course. The life cycle of the

There are five types of mosquitos that can carry the disease; P. falciparum, P. Vivax, P. Ovale, P. Knowlesi, and P. Malariae (Marshall & Taylor, 2009). The two diseases that have the most focus are the P. vivax which is most widely contracted, and the P. Falciparum which is the most fatal (Center for Disease Control, 2017). The life cycle of the disease starts with the bite of a mosquito called the anopheles, which transmits the disease. While there are hundreds of different types of mosquitoes anopheles is the only one that carries the parasitic protozoa. The bite of a mosquito injects sporozoites into the blood stream where it travels quickly to the liver since they have a short life span (Frevert, 2004). Once at the liver it infects the liver cells and replicates itself to mature into schizonts which ruptures into merozoites. After replication the merozoites burst from the liver cells into the blood stream and begin to invade the erythrocytes (red blood cells), once in the erythrocytes they again replicate completely filling the cell until the parasite ruptures the erythrocytes and releases toxins and merozoites into the bloodstream. The parasites are then separated into gametocytes (male/female), where they are released by the blood stream as plasmodium which can be acquired from another anopheles mosquito by biting the human host to start the cycle

Malaria is a vector borne infectious disease which contains 5 subspecies, of which Plasmodium ovale is the most likely culprit in this case study. The species of malaria can be distinguished between by thin blood films and analysing haematological abnormalities present, such as in plasmodium falciparum infection no change occurs to erythrocyte shape and size whereas in P. ovale infection erythrocytes are usually slightly enlarged, frequently an oval shape and often have fimbriated edges (Moore, Knight and Blann, 2016).

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes infected with parasitic protozoans(group of single-celled microorganism and belong to the Plasmodium genus)

The incubation period between the bite of the mosquito is fourteen days. Falciparum malaria has an incubation period of around eighteen days and the malaria infection has a 6 week incubation period. Symptoms of malaria can begin as early as sixteen to eighteen days after a bite by an infected mosquito. They include: High fever (up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit) with shaking chills, profuse sweating when the fever suddenly drops fatigue, headache, muscle aches, abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, feeling faint when you stand up or sit up quickly. If treatment is delayed, more severe complications of malaria can occur such as brain tissue injury, which can cause extreme sleepiness, delirium, unconsciousness, convulsions and coma, pulmonary edema, which is a dangerous accumulation of fluid inside the lungs that interferes with breathing, kidney failure, and severe anemia, resulting from the destruction of infected red blood cells and decrease in the production of new red blood cells (WHO,

Some may not even experience the symptoms until months later or not even at all depending on the mosquito bite. “The amount of time between the mosquito bite and the appearance of symptoms varies, depending on the strain of the parasite involved (#3).” Malaria can be taken as a different type of disease because the symptoms are not specific so it could be hard to diagnose. Getting ones blood tested is very important if you suffer from any of these symptoms including; high temperatures, headaches, diarrhea, muscle aches. “In rare cases, malaria can lead to impaired function of the brain or spinal cord, seizures, or loss of consciousness (#7).” There are two different types of symptoms for malaria, uncomplicated and severe. “Uncomplicated malaria typically has the following progression of symptoms through cold, hot and sweating stages: sensation of cold/shivering,

There are four species in the Plasmodium Genus that affect humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae. What people did not know then, was how the protozoan got from

The most commonly used medication which treats malaria is atovaquone-proguanil, riamet. There are also other medication chloroquine, atovaquone-proguanil, artemether-lumefantrine, mefloquine, quinine, quinidine doxycycline, clindamycin, artesunate (not licensed in the United States, but available through the CDC malaria)(CDC, 2017). These medications are effective because they are active against the parasite forms in the blood. Atovaquone-proguanil fights the parasite by interfering with the growth of the parasites which are present in the red blood cells. Riamet is made of two ingredients known as artemether and lumefantrine. Artemether and lumefantrine both work to interfere with ability in which malaria parasites can convert haem into