It’s called Plasmodium and there are 5 species that can affect humans:
Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium vivax
Plasmodium malariae
Plasmodium ovale
Plasmodium Knowlesi
Figure 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 Photographs (or illustrations) of the 5 species of Plasmodium seen under microscope
The one that causes the disease more often in Africa is Plasmodium falciparum:
- a mutant pathogen
- it can be resistant to anti-malaria treatments
- it can cause mild symptoms, very severe symptoms and it can even cause death
- it produces infectious spores
- it has a complex cycle of life with several invasive phases, infecting the person’s liver cells, getting inside the host’s blood cells and infecting the mosquito
Mosquito
It’s called Anopheles and there are several species that transmit malaria in different regions.
Figure 14 Photograph or illustration of the Anopheles gambiae
In Africa, the predominant species that transmit P. falciparum mosquito is Anopheles gambiae:
- what do they eat? – the female feeds on blood, to obtain proteins and make between 50 to 200 eggs that they lay in the water
- cycle of life – 3 aquatic phases, eggs, larvae and pupae, that last up to 2 weeks and 1 adult phase, in which they become malaria vectors and live between 2 to 4 weeks
- how are they? – they have head to detect and feed themselves, thorax to move and abdomen for digestion
- how can they be distinguished from other mosquitos? – for their rest position with the abdomen up to make digestion and later bite
- how they become infected? biting people of the community that are sick with malaria
- where do they live? in breeding grounds in lakes, rivers, swamps, puddles, agriculture ditches, irrigation channels, paddle footprints, buckets of water, stagnant waters, garbage from inside and outside the houses, wells
- when do they bite? between sunset and dusk
Figure 15 photograph of the mosquito in digestion position