What is the life cycle of the parasite? Once it has infected a host, does it always remain in the body?
First, the parasite infects the liver [6]. Immediately after being bitten, sporozoites, or undeveloped parasites, infiltrate into the liver cells and undergo repeated replication [6]. Then, merozoites, or ‘daughter cells’ of the replicating parent, are released into the blood stream [6]. Depending on the strain, the parasites may remain dormant in the liver and release merozoites weeks or even years later, triggered by unknown reasons [6]. Only when these parasites are released in much higher numbers into the blood, symptoms occur, marking the clinical stage of the disease [6]. Merozoites invade red blood and degrade our protein responsible for oxygen transport, hemoglobin, so it can obtain essential amino acids for its growth6; incidentally, haemoglobin is broken down into two parts; haem and globin [5]. Haem is toxic to the malaria parasite, so it produces a chemical which converts the toxic heme into a non-toxic product [5]. The most serious strain of the parasite, Plasmodium falcip
Related Questions
- Would the parasite continue its life cycle if it never attaches to a fish host (one of the three remaining fish)?
- What is the life cycle of the parasite? Once it has infected a host, does it always remain in the body?
- How long does the West Nile virus remain in a person’s body after they are infected?
