QUESTION:

What is the portal of entry for malaria?

ANSWER:

Malaria enters its human hosts via the bite of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The malaria parasites are present in the mosquitoes saliva, and enter into the human bloodstream when the mosquito bites to take a blood meal.

Once in the human body, the malaria parasite then undergoes a number of different life stages, involving reproduction in the liver as well as inside red blood cells. Once the malaria parasite has undergone reproduction in the red blood cells, the new parasites burst out and back into the blood stream, where they can be ingested by another mosquito biting again. Inside the mosquito, the malaria parasites undergo more reproduction and life stage changes, until they are ready to be transferred into a human host again, via another bite. In this way, the cycle continues.