What is its rate of reproduction?
The rate of reproduction of malaria is the estimated number of secondary malaria infections potentially transmitted within a susceptible population from a single non-immune individual. This number represents the theoretical estimate of the intensity of transmission. In practice transmission will depend on the parasite species involved, fluctuations of the source of infection (gametocyte carriers), the density and infectivity of the Anopheles species involved, etc. Factors making up the mathematical formula of the basic reproduction rate are: bites per person per night by vector population, times the expectation of infective life of the vector population, times the expectation of life of female vectors (making up the “vectorial capacity of the vector population”), times the mosquito’s receptivity to infection, and the days of infectivity per case.
