Plasmodium's Deadly Tango: A Microscopic Thriller Imagine a tiny dancer pirouetting through your blood, causing chaos inside your cells. That's Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, in a nutshell. Here's its life cycle in a quick spin: Act 1: Mosquito Maestro: Plasmodium chills in a mosquito's gut, multiplying like crazy. Act 2: Liver Invasion: The parasites storm your liver, transforming into hungry blobs. Act 3: Bloodshed Ballet: They invade your red blood cells, feasting and multiplying, making you feel rotten. Act 4: Game of Chance: Some parasites turn into sexual partners, waiting for a mosquito's return. Act 5: Mosquito Encore: When bitten again, the partners tango in the mosquito, creating thousands of baby Plasmodiums, ready to start the dance all over again. This microscopic thriller highlights the cunning parasite's cycle and the ongoing fight to disrupt its deadly rhythm. Remember, understanding its moves is key to winning the battle against malaria!

1. NAME: Mahnoor Baig
Khadeeja Azhar

2. Plasmodium:
 Plasmodium was first identified when Charles
Louis Alphonse Laveran described parasites in the
blood of malaria patients in 1880.
 Plasmodium is a type of protozoa, a single-celled
organism that is able to divide only within a host
cell.
 Plasmodium is a genus of protozoan's which fall
under the subclass Coccidia. Plasmodium usually
infects the red blood cells in humans and other
mammals. This genus is also known to affect
birds, causing Avian Malaria. In humans,
plasmodium causes malaria, however, it requires a
vector.

3.  Plasmodium species:
There are approximately 156 named species of
Plasmodium which infect various species of
vertebrates. Four species are considered true
parasites of humans, as they utilize humans almost
exclusively as a natural intermediate host.
 P. vivax
 P .falciparum
 P. malariae
 P. ovale

4. Clade: SAR
Infrakingdom: Alveolata
Phylum: Apicomplexa
Class: Aconoidasida
Order: Haemospororida
Family: Plasmodiidae
Genus: Plasmodium
Scientific Classification:

5. Malaria:
It is a mosquito-borne infectious
disease caused by intracellular
protozoan parasite; plasmodium.
Symptoms:
Characterized by cycles of shaking,
chills, fever, sweating and anemia.
Epidemiology:
Endemic in tropical and subtropical
regions.

6. Vector of plasmodium:
Anopheles mosquitoes.
Hosts of plasmodium:
Plasmodium has 2 hosts;
1. A vertebrate host in which reproduction
is asexual (intermediate host) ;Human
2. A blood-sucking insect in which sexual
reproduction takes place ( definitive
host) ;Mosquito

7. Infective stages:
1. Sporozoites (human)
2. Gametocytes for mosquitoes.

8. The life cycles of Plasmodium species
involve development in a blood-feeding
insect host which then injects parasites
into a vertebrate host during a blood
meal. Parasites grow within a vertebrate
body tissue (often the liver) before
entering the bloodstream to infect red
blood cells. The ensuing destruction of
host red blood cells can result in malaria.
During this infection, some parasites are
picked up by a blood-feeding insect
(mosquitoes in majority cases), continuing
the life cycle.

10.  Life cycle of plasmodium is divided
into 3 stages;
1. Exoerythrocytic stage – in liver of
human.
2. Erythrocytic stage – in RBCs of
Human
3. Sporogonic stage – in anopheles
mosquito

11.  The human infection begins when an infected female
anopheles mosquito bites a person and injects infected
with sporozoites saliva into the blood circulation.
 Sporozoites infect liver cells.
 There, the sporozoites mature into schizonts.
 The schizonts rupture and release merozoites. This
initial replication in the liver is called the
exoerythrocytic cycle.
 Merozoites infect RBCs. There, the parasite multiplies
asexually (called the erythrocytic cycle). The
merozoites develop into ring-stage trophozoites. Some
then mature into schizonts.
 The schizonts rupture, releasing merozoites.
 Some trophozoites differentiate into gametocytes.

12.  During a blood meal, an Anopheles mosquito
ingests the male (microgametocytes) and
female (macrogametocytes) gametocytes,
beginning the sporogonic cycle.
 In the mosquito’s stomach, the microgametes
penetrate the macrogametes, producing
zygotes
 The zygotes become motile and elongated,
developing into ookinetes.
 The ookinetes invade the midgut wall of the
mosquito where they develop into oocysts.
 The oocysts grow, rupture, and release
sporozoites, which travel to the mosquito’s
salivary glands. Inoculation of the sporozoites
into a new human host perpetuates the
malaria life cycle.