Plasmodium Falciparum - Causative Agent of Severe Malaria Research Paper

Plasmodium Falciparum - Causative Agent of Severe Malaria - Research Paper Example Even in today’s medically advanced world, malaria remains one of the primary concerns of researchers and health practitioners in areas where the disease is endemic. Despite immense research and availability of advanced healthcare facilities, malaria has a high mortality rate causing a million deaths each year and infecting a total of 300 million people around the world. The purpose of this research paper is to provide information on structure, aetiology and other aspects of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Plasmodium Falciparum Mode of transmission The female Anopheles mosquito serves as a vector and a definitive host for Plasmodium falciparum. The two phases of the lifecycle of plasmodia are the sexual cycle and asexual cycle. The sexual phase occurs in female mosquito and asexual phase is completed in Humans. Due to the production of sporozoites, the sexual cycle is known as sporogony while on the other hand, the asexual cycle is known as schizogony because of the pr oduction of schizonts. Plasmodium sporozoites are introduced into intermediate host i.e. humans, through the saliva of the infected mosquito when it bites an individual. Within 30 minutes, the sporozoites enter the hepatocytes where multiplication and differentiation are initiated resulting in the conversion sporozoites into merozoites (Levinson et al 1999). Physiology and lifecycle The merozoites produced in the liver are released into the peripheral circulation. Once released, the merozoites enter the red blood cells in order to mediate the erythrocytic phase of the disease. In erythrocytic phase, merozoites transform into a ring shaped trophozoite. Later, the trophozoite develops into an amoeboid form which further grows into a schizont. Each schizont is filled with several merozoites. The red blood cells burst and release the merozoites into general circulation where they infect other red blood cells in a similar manner. The release of merozoites into the blood is the cause of r ecurrent typical symptoms seen in malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. The development of male and female gametocytes leads to the initiation of a sexual cycle of P. falciparum in the human red blood cells. When a female Anopheles mosquito takes a blood meal the gametocytes are sucked up and lead to the production of female macrogamete and eight male microgametes which have an appearance similar to that of sperm cells. The male and female gametes undergo fertilization to form a diploid zygote. The process of differentiation occurs and converts the diploid zygote into a motile ookinete. The ookinete forms a hole in the gut wall and converts into many haploid sporozoites. The sporozoites leave the gut wall and enter the salivary glands of the Anopheles mosquito. Once, the sporozoites enter the salivary glands their sexual cycle is completed and they are now ready to cause malaria when the mosquito bites a human (Levinson et al 1999). Diagnosis Thick and thin Giemsa stain smears ar e observed under the microscope in order to determine the presence of the parasite in the blood. To determine the presence of the parasite, thick Giemsa smear is used while on the other hand thin smears are used for the identification of parasite species. The blood sample from an individual suffering from malaria show characteristic ring shaped trophozoites residing within the erythrocytes.