Malaria

A disease caused by the presence of the sporozoan Plasmodium in human or other vertebrate red blood cells, usually transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus Anopheles that previously sucked the blood from a person with malaria

Description
Human malaria infection begins with the exoerythrocytic cycle in liver parenchyma cells, followed by a series of erythrocytic schizogenous cycles repeated at regular intervals; production of gametocytes in other red cells provides future gametes for another mosquito infection; characterized by episodic severe chills and high fever, prostration, occasionally fatal termination. There is clear statistical evidence that carrier status for certain hemoglobinopathies, such as sickle cell disease and the thalassemias, conveys effective protection against malaria infection, thus providing a theoretical basis for the disproportionate frequency of such carriers in regions with endemic malaria. The underlying mechanism of protection is still under dispute, but is assumed to be either an easier rupture of erythrocytes upon plasmodium infection or their higher susceptibility to non-pathogenic plasmodium species. Both scenarios would make the host environment non-supportive of the merozoite stage of the lethal Plasmodium falciparum strain.