Izza Maryam

1910146066
Topic: Malaria
Instructor Name: Dr. Ayesha Aslam
Malaria

Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a
certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans. Four kinds of malaria parasites infect
humans.
Malaria is caused by one of protozoan parasites:
 Plasmodium falciparum
 Plasmodium vivax
 Plasmodium ovale
 Plasmodium malariae
Host and Transmission

 There are two main host in which parasite will complete life cycle.
 Female Anopheles mosquito( Primary host)
Human (Secondary host)
 Transmission:
 Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles
mosquito.
Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a
previous blood meal taken from an infected person. When a mosquito bites an infected person,
a small amount of blood is taken in which contains microscopic malaria parasites. About 1
week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, these parasites mix with the
mosquito’s saliva and are injected into the person being bitten.
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 Because the malaria parasite is found in red blood cells of an infected person, malaria can
also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or the shared use of
needles or syringes contaminated with blood. Malaria may also be transmitted from a
mother to her unborn infant before or during delivery (“congenital” malaria).
Signs and symptoms

The main symptoms include:

 Fever
 Flu-like illness, including shaking chills
 headache
 muscle aches
 Tiredness.
 Nausea
 Vomiting, and
 Diarrhea.
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Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the
loss of red blood cells. If not promptly treated, the infection can become severe and may cause
kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death.
 For most people, symptoms begin 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, although a person
may feel ill as early as 7 days or as late as 1 year later.
Lifecycle of Malaria

Life cycle of malaria comprised of two cycles or stages:

Cycle in Human (Asexual phase)(Stage of infection)
Cycle in Mosquito(Sexual phase)(Stage of non-infection)
Cycle in Human:
The human infection begin when an infected female Anopheles mosquito
bites a person and injects infected sporozoites saliva into the blood
circulation. That is the first life stage of plasmodium.
Next stage is divided into two phases:
Exoerythrocytic(Pre-erythrocytic)phase
Erythrocytic phase
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 Within 30-60 min sporozoites find their way through blood circulation to their first target liver.
The sporozoites enter the liver cells and start dividing leading to schizonts in 6-7 days. Each
schizonts gives birth to thousands of merozoites that are released into the blood stream making
the end of exoerythrocytic phase. The exoerythrocytic phase is not pathogenic and does not
produce symptoms or sign of disease.
 Erythrocytic phase
• Merozoites released into the blood stream are directed towards their second target red b
blood cells. The first stage after invasion is the stage that evolves into trophozoites. The
trophozoites will mature to erythrocytic schizonts. Each schizonts gives birth to new generation
merozoites that after RBCs ruptures are released into blood stream to invade other RBCs.
• A second scenario into RBCs is the parasites differentiation into male and female gametes that
is non-pathogenic form of parasite.
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 Mosquito cycle
When female anopheles mosquito bites an infected person , it takes up these gametocytes with
the blood meal. The gametocytes than mature into microgametes(male) and
macrogametes(female) during a process known as gametogenesis. In the mosquito gut
microgamete fertilize macrogamete forming a zygote. The zygote becomes the so called
ookinete. The ookinete penetrates mid gut wall, where encyst into formation called oocyst.
Inside the oocyst , the ookinete nucleus divides to produce thousand of sporozoites. The
sporozoites released into the mosquito cavity and find their way to salivary gland.
Treatment

Treatment of malaria depends on the species of malaria, as well as on the severity of the
disease. Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. The types of drugs and the
length of treatment will vary, depending on,

 Your age
 The severity of your symptoms
 Which type of malaria parasite you have
 Whether you're pregnant
Common antimalarial drugs include:
 Atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone)
 Quinine sulfate (Qualaquin) with doxycycline (Oracea, Vibramycin, others)
 Primaquine phosphate
 Chloroquine phosphate