(CDC - malaria - about malaria - biology, n.d.)
Steps of the Plasmodium Life Cycle are extremely complex. The numbers below correspond with the cycle shown above:
1. Throughout a blood meal, an Anopheles female mosquito injects sporozoites into the human host
2. The sporozoites infect the liver cells
3. They then mature into schizonts
4. After they mature, they rupture and release merozoites
5. Merozoites infect the red blood cells
6. The parasites undergo asexual multiplication in the erythrocytes. Some parasites differentiate into sexual erythrocytic stages
7. Blood stage parasites are responsible for the signs and symptoms of the disease
8. While the parasite is in the stomach, the microgametes go into the macrogametes creating zygotes. The multiplication the parasites undergoes is called the sporogonic cycle
9. The zygotes become capable of motion and become longer creating Ookinetes
10. The Ookinetes take over the gut of the mosquito where they turn into oocysts
11. The oocysts get bigger, burst and set free the sporozoites
12. They then make their way to the mosquitos salivary glands. Inoculation of the sporozoites into a new human host continues the malaria life cycle
(CDC - malaria - about malaria - biology, n.d.)
1. Throughout a blood meal, an Anopheles female mosquito injects sporozoites into the human host
2. The sporozoites infect the liver cells
3. They then mature into schizonts
4. After they mature, they rupture and release merozoites
5. Merozoites infect the red blood cells
6. The parasites undergo asexual multiplication in the erythrocytes. Some parasites differentiate into sexual erythrocytic stages
7. Blood stage parasites are responsible for the signs and symptoms of the disease
8. While the parasite is in the stomach, the microgametes go into the macrogametes creating zygotes. The multiplication the parasites undergoes is called the sporogonic cycle
9. The zygotes become capable of motion and become longer creating Ookinetes
10. The Ookinetes take over the gut of the mosquito where they turn into oocysts
11. The oocysts get bigger, burst and set free the sporozoites
12. They then make their way to the mosquitos salivary glands. Inoculation of the sporozoites into a new human host continues the malaria life cycle
(CDC - malaria - about malaria - biology, n.d.)