Plasmodium Falciparum

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).

While the most common way malaria is transmitted is from mosquitoes to humans, there are other ways of catching the disease. One way is from mother to her unborn child. When a disease is contracted this way it is said to have been transmitted congenitally. Another way is during blood transfusions. This is why it is important to be tested for diseases such as malaria before you give blood.

Malaria is a disease that affects nearly 600 million people and causes more than a million deaths a year, the most coming from children under five. This disease is regularly found in more than 100 countries around the world and affects 40% of the world’s population. It is most commonly transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum because almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific one. Some of the symptoms that are affiliated with this strand of malaria are the destruction of red blood cells along with complications with the kidneys, lungs, and brain. In more serious cases, it can cause permanent neurological effects and even death. As the Nobel Assembly said at the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for a millennium and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing”. Youyou Tu, one of the winners of the prize, discovered Artemisinin, “a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria by killing the malaria parasites an early stage of their development.”

The symptoms vary because patients are diagnosed with having either uncomplicated or severe malaria. This is due to the fact that different kinds of malaria range in severity. For instance, ,P. falciparum and P. knowlesi infections can cause rapidly progressive severe illness and lead to death death while the other species, P. malariae, P. vivax, or P. ovale are less likely to cause such severe manifestations. Furthermore, P. vivax and P. ovale infections also require treatment for the hypnozoite forms that remain dormant in the liver and can cause a relapsing infection. Finally, P. falciparum and P. vivax species have varying drug resistance patterns in different geographic regions. For P. falciparum and P. knowlesi infections, the urgent initiation of appropriate therapy is especially

Before the research I knew malaria is a disease which occurs mostly in poor, tropical and subtropical areas of the world. I also knew people get malaria by being bitten by an infective mosquito.

Plasmodium is a parasite with over 100 species, but only four directly affect humans(“Malaria Parasites”). This parasite affects the circulatory system, or cardiovascular system. It’s structured of many things, and some structures are in common with animals or human cells. Even though it’s microscopic in size, it can cause a lot of damage. The parasite gets into the body from mosquitoes and infects the bloodstream of the circulatory system.

Malaria or other similar diseases like malaria has been recognized and encountered by humans for more than 4,000 years. Malaria is caused by the genus Plasmodium parasites, which enter the human body and are transmitted to people through the bite of a mosquito infected with the parasite (Q&A, Malaria). Once the parasite enters the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver and then infect red blood cells. The malaria parasite was first discovered on November 6, 1880, by a French army surgeon named Charles Louis Al phonse Laveran. While stationed in

Malaria is considered one of the most serious and life-threatening public health problems in the world. According to World Health Organization, more than 3 billion people live in areas classified as being at risk from malaria, with nearly 200 million cases.1 Approximately, 750,000 deaths occur every year, primarily among children, due to malaria and its complications.1 Children less than 5 years of age are more vulnerable to be affected by malaria.2 In 2015, about 438,000 malaria deaths were reported, of which estimated 69% were children under 5 years of age.2

(Fairhurst RM, Wellems TE. Plasmodium species (Malaria). In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases . 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2009: p. 3071-3072)

Malaria, on the other hand, is a disease caused by a parasite that spreads around from different vectors and hosts. There are three factors to the spread of malaria: the vector, the host and the pathogen. According

The illness associated with the malaria parasite was first thought to be a result of poisonous mists drifting from marshes hence its name meaning “bad air” in Italian. Of course it was unbeknownst back then that it was actually caused by the female anopheles mosquito which tends to live near still water such as marshes.2 Although it was unknown what actually caused the symptoms of malaria,

About 90% of cases are in tropical regions of Africa. About 95% of deaths are Africans under the age 5. The most common form of malaria is the product of a nefarious partnership between the Anopheles Gambia mosquito and the Plasmodium Falciparum parasite. Mosquitoes pick up the parasite by feeding on an infected human host. The parasite lives in the mosquitoe 's gut until the mosquito bites another human. (Sheiban et al., 2006).

Malaria. Our 130 million year old enemy. Malaria has been around since the dawn of time and just like the evolution of humans, the disease evolved over time (Malaria.com, 2011). Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a specific parasite called Plasmodium, and it is transmitted to people through the bites of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Plasmodium is a unique parasite because of its structure-it is a single celled organism that multiples in our red blood cells (Canada.com, 2016). The Plasmodium parasite has 4 species which are known to cause the disease in humans, these being: P. Vivax, P. Falciparum, P. Ovale, and P. Malariae. Specifically, P. Vivax, and P. Falciparum are the 2 most common types of parasites to cause the

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

Malaria is one of the ten most common, yet deadly diseases in the world. It is a parasitic disease spread by the bite of Anopheles mosquito, which is active between dusk and dawn. Malaria occurs in over 100 countries and territories.