"Malaria Causes" The cause of malaria is the infection of the Plasmodium parasites that is passed to the human body by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. After the bite of infection, the parasites that often to be called sporozoites, travel to the liver through the bloodstream where the parasites will be mature and reproduce the other form of the merozoites. These merozoites are released to the bloodstream and infect the red blood cells. Those parasites multiply inside the red blood cells and infecting more red blood cells. Usually the first symptoms happen 10 days to 4 weeks after the infection. However, there are some cases that the first symptoms occur earlier in the 8th day, or can be as long as a year after the infection. The symptoms will be occurred in cycles of 48 to 72 hours.
Mosquito transmission cycle * Uninfected mosquito. A mosquito becomes infected by feeding on a person who has malaria. * Transmission of parasite. If you're the next person this mosquito bites, it can transmit malaria parasites to you. * In the liver. The parasites then travel to your liver — where they can lie dormant for as long as a year. * Into the bloodstream. When the parasites mature, they leave the liver and infect your red blood cells. This is when people typically develop malaria symptoms. * On to the next person. If an uninfected mosquito bites you at this point in the cycle, it will become infected with your malaria parasites and can spread them to the next person it bites.
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).
Treatments for Malaria
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