Is Malaria Transmitted by Female Mosquitoes?

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QUESTION

Is malaria caused by only female mosquitoes?

ANSWER

Malaria is only transmitted by female mosquitoes, yes. This is because only female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles (the genus that transmits malaria in mammals, including humans) feed on blood, and the parasite that causes malaria (called Plasmodium) spends part of its life cycle in the blood. Therefore, when a female mosquito feeds on an infected person, when she sucks up their blood, she also takes up some of the Plasmodium parasites. These parasites mature inside the mosquito, and then, when the mosquito goes to bite another person, she passes some of the mature Plasmodium parasites into that new person’s blood while she feeds. The Plasmodium parasites may then be able to undergo further development in the new host, which may lead to the person experiencing a malaria infection. So, while technically female mosquitoes don’t cause malaria (since the disease is caused by the Plasmodium parasite), female mosquitoes are required to pass it between one person and another.

Causes of Malaria

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QUESTION

What are the causes of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. 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 on 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.

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).

Malaria Transmission

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QUESTION

How is malaria transmitted?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. 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 on 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.

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).

What is malaria and when was it discovered?

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QUESTION

What is malaria and when was it diagnosed?

ANSWER

Malaria is a disease caused by a single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium. Five types of malaria infect humans: P. falciparum, P. ovale, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. It was first observed in the blood of a patient who had died of malaria in 1880 by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician working in Algeria.

What Causes Malaria

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QUESTION

What are the causes of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused  by infection with certain single-celled parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Specifically, there are five species which infect humans: P. falciparum (the most severe and dangerous form of malaria), P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi.

The symptoms of the disease occur when the parasite enters the blood stream (after a brief 1-3 week period of development in the liver) and begins to enter red blood cells, reproduce inside them, and then burst out, destroying the cell. The debris caused by this bursting, as well as various other aspects of the process, cause the body to mount an intense immune reaction which results in high fever, chills, aches and nausea. For P. falciparum infection, the infection is particularly severe because the parasite causes red blood cells it infects to stick inside the small blood vessels that lead to major organs, reducing blood flow and causing oxygen deprivation. When this occurs in the blood vessels in the brain, the result is impaired consciousness, unconsciousness, coma and even death – hallmarks of what is known as “cerebral malaria,” which is implicated in many of the deaths related to malaria each year.

Malaria Drug Binding Site

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QUESTION

What is malaria, and drug binding site?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a single-celled protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium. Five kinds of Plasmodium are known to infect people: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi.

There is no one drug binding site with respect to malaria: different anti-malarial drugs have different modes of action, and not all are well described. I will briefly outline the proposed mechanism of action of two of the most common types of anti-malarials: artemisinin (and derivatives) and chloroquine (quinine is thought to act similarly to chloroquine).

Artemisinin is thought to have anti-malarial properties by virtue of possessing an endoperoxide moiety, or double oxygen bridge (-Carbon-Oxygen-Oxygen-Carbon). In the presence of intracellular free ion, this moiety is converted by a chemical reaction to “free radicals”, atoms with unpaired electrons which are highly reactive. The free radicals act as alkylating agents and induce cell death, but only those that are already pathologically crippled, for example due to malaria infection. Another hypothesis is that the free radicals directly damage the malaria parasite.

Chloroquine is thought to act by causing buildup of the toxic by-product of hemoglobin metabolism, heme – the malaria parasite usually converts heme to hemozoin, a non-toxic crystal, and stores it in the digestive vacuole. When chloroquine diffuses into an infected red blood cell, it reacts with heme to “cap” it, preventing further conversion into hemozoin. Moreover, chloroquine also converts hemozoin into a highly toxic substance called the FP-Chloroquine complex. This build-up of toxicity leads to breakdown of the cell membrane, and eventual cell death and autodigestion.

Causes of Malaria

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QUESTION

What is malaria usually caused by?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. 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 on 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.

If you have ever taken anti-malaria medication, please take this brief Malaria Survey.

Malaria Disorder

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QUESTION

what is the malaria disorder?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito.

Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Symptoms usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. Infection with one type of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.

How do you get malaria?

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QUESTION:

How do you get malaria?

ANSWER:

Malaria is caused by parasites called Plasmodium, of which different species cause different types of malaria. A person gets malaria when they are bitten by certain female mosquitoes (of the species Anopheles) that carry Plasmodium parasites in their saliva. The mosquitoes themselves pick up the parasite by feeding on the blood of people already infected with malaria.

Once a person has been bitten by an infected mosquito, the parasites are released into their bloodstream. Inside the body, they reproduce and multiply—different types of malaria have different lengths of reproductive cycle and different locations in the body where the life stages reside. It is the process of reproduction and movement through the body that causes the fever, chills and other symptoms that are associated with a malaria infection.