Malaria is caused by Plasmodium sp., a parasitic protist. The female Anopheles mosquito acts as a vector. The female mosquito needs a blood meal to provide protein before she can lay her eggs.The plasmodium completes its life cycle in two hosts.Plasmodium reproduces sexually in the mosquito and asexually in the human host.When bitten, protists are passed into the human bloodstream from the mosquito's saliva and travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce.They then invade the red blood cells, where they reproduce again and burst out to infect more red blood cells. Some develop into gametes inside the red blood cells. The Plasmodium invades the red blood cells, liver and sometimes the brain.When a female mosquito bites an infected person, she takes in the gametes with her blood meal. The gametes fuse in the mosquito's gut, and the parasites that develop travel to the mosquito's salivary glands, ready to be passed to the next person she bites.
There is no vaccine. The vector must be controlled by spraying insecticides or removing stagnant ponds where they lay their eggs to reduce the risk of diseases. Mosquito nets, long sleeved clothing, mosquito window screens sprayed with insecticides stop people from being bitten. There are anti-malarial drugs but the protoctist is becoming resistant to the existing anti-malarial drugs.
There is no vaccine. The vector must be controlled by spraying insecticides or removing stagnant ponds where they lay their eggs to reduce the risk of diseases. Mosquito nets, long sleeved clothing, mosquito window screens sprayed with insecticides stop people from being bitten. There are anti-malarial drugs but the protoctist is becoming resistant to the existing anti-malarial drugs.