The life cycle of Plasmodium

The life cycle of plasmodium has two stages. The asexual cycle takes place inside human body whereas the sexual cycle occurs within the body of the female Anopheles mosquitoes. Initially I thought of giving the life cycle in detail, but latter thought against it as it will be too complicated for common people without proper medical/biological back ground and hence may lose interest. So in my nest posts I will focus on symptoms, prevention & cure of malaria, which will be more useful to all.

Distribution and impact of Malaria on Human life

Malaria causes about 350 – 500 million infections in humans & approximately one to three million deaths annually – this represents at least one death every 30 seconds. Majority of the sufferers are children below 5 years. Pregnant women are also very vulnerable. Though many efforts have been made to reduce transmission & increase treatment there has been little change in the global scenario. Malaria is presently endemic in regions around equator, in areas of South America, South & South – East Asia, parts of Middle East and Oceania and much of Africa; however it is in Sub-Saharan Africa where Blue area shows the most Malaria-prone zones in 85%-90% of malaria fatalities occur. If the prevalence of
the world malaria stays on its present upwards rate, the death rate
could double in next twenty years.

More historical facts on Malaria

The protozoa were called Plasmodium by the Italian scientist Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli. A Cuban doctor called Carlos Finlay, who was working in Havana, first proposed that the disease was transmitted by mosquitoes. But it was Sir Ronald Ross, a British doctor working in Kolkata, India proved that it was indeed transmitted by mosquitoes. He showed that mosquitoes are transmitting malaria to birds also isolated the protozoa from the salivary glands of mosquitoes that fed on infected birds. He received Nobel Prize for this in 1902.